Lot n° 17
Estimation :
3000 - 5000
EUR
James PRADIER (1790-1852) - Lot 17
James PRADIER (1790-1852)
Sappho (bust, after the seated Sappho)
Circa 1852
Bronze with black patina
Signed on the terrace: J.Pradier
Titled: ???????
Height: 57 cm. with the pedestal.
Related works : - LAPAIRE, Claude. James Pradier, catalogue raisonné. Milan, 2010, n° 368 and n°368.3.
In 1848, at the Salon, Pradier, then considered the "king" of French sculpture (the word is Baudelaire's, in his 1846 Salon) exhibited a standing Sappho (Isle of Wight, Collection of H.M. the Queen at Osborne House). It is the first time he interprets the sensual and dramatic subject of this ancient poetess, desperate for love, thinking of suicide.
Théophile Gauthier then commented enthusiastically: "The head bows pensively and painfully, bent over in the bitter grief of an unknown love. (...) Never has Pradier, who, following the example of the Ancients, did not like to disturb the beauty of the features by the expression of joy or pain, made such a significant physiognomy (...). The predominance of the head over the rest of the body is a spiritualist and Christian sentiment ignored in antiquity, and Pradier is a pure payen, worshipper of Zeus, Héré, Poseidon and especially Aphrodite. (...) This statue (...), if properly oxidized and greened by a prolonged stay under the ground or in the sea, which would give it the ancient patina, could pass for one of the works of the good old days of Greek or Roman art, and would pay incalculable prices".
Shortly afterwards, on 1 April 1852, at the Salon, the seated, marble Sappho (Paris, Musée d'Orsay, RF2990), with a very close face, aroused the admiration of the public and offered Pradier his last glory before his death on the following 4 June. The emotion was great and the work was covered with a pancake for the rest of the exhibition, at the end of which the sculptor received a posthumous medal of honour. Today, the seated Sappho is the first work to welcome the visitor to the great nave of the Musée d'Orsay.
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