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A very fine pair of Empire gilt and patinated bronze statuettes of ‘The Crouching Aphrodite’ after the Antique and ‘L’Amour Prenant un Papillon’ after Antoine-Denis Chaudet. The nude Crouching Aphrodite with coiled hair tied up in a top-knot with her right arm across her bust and left hand above her inner thighs and a vase lying on its side behind her, the figure on a stepped oval pedestal mounted with a young winged female putto holding a flaming torch and seated in a bow-shaped boat riding on waves, the base cast with a stiff leaf band. The naked figure of a half-kneeling Cupid also with coiled hair, touching the tip of the wings of a butterfly with his right hand while scooping up a snail with his left, on a similar oval plinth mounted with a scene of a beehive pierced by two arrows with bees hovering above and flanked by three winged putti, one holding a torch, one an arrow and another crouching as if stung by a bee, the base cast with a stiff leaf band
Paris, date circa 1820
Height 31 cm, width 16.5 cm, depth 12 cm. each.
These two wonderful bronze statuettes are reduced copies after two well-known sculptures, both of which were in the Musée du Louvre, Paris during the early years of the nineteenth century. The first showing the mythological goddess of love at her bath is known as ‘The Crouching Aphrodite’, of which the original Greek marble dates to the 3rd century B.C and is considered by some scholars to have been the work of Doidalsos of Bithynia. The marble was copied extensively by the Romans, of which in addition to the marble in the Musée du Louvre are versions in the Museo Pio-Clementino in the Vatican Rome, the Archaeological Museo at Naples as well as Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth. The version in the Louvre however has her arms and head missing; more complete Roman copies such as an example in the British Museum London show her as here with the same hair style with her arms and hands attempting to cover her nakedness. Other versions also include a vase behind her feet, while others include a figure of Cupid. The renewed interest in the Antique gave rise to a number of eighteenth century marble copies such as an example in the Peabody Collection. ‘The Crouching Aphrodite’s popularity continued throughout the nineteenth century when copies were made in marble, bronze, plaster and even pottery (e.g. by the Belleek Factory). Prints were also made from this figure of beauty such as one by Marcantonio Raimondi possibly after Francesco Raibolini, c. 1450-1517 in which Cupid hovers behind (University of Michigan Museum of Art).
The figure of Cupid or Eros is a copy after the model of ‘L’Amour’, known as ‘L’Amour Prenant un Papillon’ by Antoine-Denis Chaudet (1763-1810). Chaudet exhibited his small plaster model at the Paris Salon in 1802 but it was not until after his death that the sculptor Pierre Cartellier (1757-1831) completed a life-size copy in marble, 1817 in which year it was acquired by the Louvre. The model proved a resounding success and as a consequence a number of bronze reductions were cast, for example by Colin à Paris and other foundries, though unlike the present example the majority featured a rectangular rather than oval pedestal. The butterfly, a common feature of Empire art, may represent the human soul as well as symbolising Cupid’s lover Psyche, since the Greek word for psyche can be translated as either butterfly or soul. The butterfly is also associated with resurrection, as sometimes is the snail.
By 1802 Chaudet was heralded as one of the leading Salon sculptors. Having won the Prix de Rome he spent four years there at the Académie de France, where he was much influenced by Canova. In 1788, the year after his return to France he became an associate of the Académie Royale. The majority of his work during the Revolutionary years tended to be on a small-scale though in 1792 he was commissioned to carve the stone relief of the ‘Devotion to the Motherland’ as part of the transformation of the Pantheon. By 1802 he was considered among the most esteemed sculptors and much admired by Napoleon Bonaparte whose bust and that of the Empress Joséphine were carved by Chaudet (circa 1804); later Chaudet’s statue of Napoleon was placed on the Colonne Vendôme. Nominated a member of the Institut in 1805, Chaudet was also a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and made a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. Cartellier was also held in high regard; he too was a member of the Institut and taught at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. His portrait sculptures included a bust of Dominique Vivant, Baron Denon, whose friends Eugene and Hortense Beauharnais commissioned Cartellier to carve a monument for the tomb of their mother the Empress Joséphine, 1825.
The present statuettes both feature scenes on the plinth of Cupid and his mother Aphrodite in their youth. The one of ‘L’Amour’ includes a copy of part of the detail that features on the plinth of the Louvre marble. The latter however includes extra winged putti while here only the beehive and three personifications of Cupid are included. In one he holds a bow, in another a flaming torch while the crouching figure appears to relate to the story of how as a young boy he was stung by a bee. Likewise the plinth supporting that of Aphrodite portrays her in her youth as a winged female goddess riding across the waves, presumably alluding to myth that she was born from the sea. She is accompanied by other symbols of love notably the pair of cooing doves, the flaming torch, two arrows associated with Cupid while even the boat is shaped as a bow. Though the original models on which these two statuettes were based were created many years apart, both compliment each other in terms of subject, pose and Classical grace.
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