Antique White Marble Sculpture of Madame Recamier

About the Item

A fine antique white marble sculpture of madame Recamier after the famous sculpture by Joseph Chinard (1756-1813). Chinard was a French sculptor who worked in a Neoclassical style that was infused with naturalism and sentiment. He received his early training in Lyon, as a painter, in the government-supported École Royale de Dessin, then worked with a local sculptor. His work at Lyon drew the attention of a patron who sent him to Rome in 1784. His reputation grew and in 1786, he won first prize in the Concorso Balestra of the Accademia di San Luca, the first Frenchman to do so in sixty years. In Rome he also began to produce the portrait medallions and busts in which he would reveal his greatest gifts. When Chinard returned to Lyon, he married the embroiderer Antoinette Perret. In 1791 he departed again for Rome with various commissions, including candelabra bases for the merchant van Risambourg representing Apollo Trampling Superstition and Jupiter Striking Down Aristocracy. The terracotta models for these seen as religious attacks, led to his arrest in September 1792. Imprisoned in Castel Sant'Angelo, he was released and expelled from Rome in November. Back in Lyon Chinard received a hero's welcome but, ironically, works he designed soon thereafter for his native city were perceived as counter-revolutionary. As a result he was denounced and imprisoned in October 1793. Acquitted in 1794, Chinard went on to serve the republic, the directoire, and the empire as organizer of civic festivals and designer of patriotic monuments. Napoleon Bonaparte, visiting Lyon with his wife Josephine in 1802, found a newly completed marble bust of himself by Chinard in his room. There after Chinard became the favorite portrait sculptor of Napoleon's family. From 1795 until 1807 Chinard often stayed in Paris, sometimes at the home of the Lyonnais banker Jacques Récamier. His sensuous yet reserved portrait busts and medallions of the celebrated beauty Juliette Récamier, the subject of David's famous full-length painting of 1800 (Paris, Musee du Louvre), are among his masterpieces. Same as this model. Chinard's works may be seen in various museum collections, including those of the Louvre, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, the Getty museum, Malibu, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Juliette Récamier December 1777 – 1849), was a French socialite whose salon drew people from the leading literary and political circles of early 19th-century Paris. An icon of neoclassicism, Récamier cultivated a public persona as a great beauty, and her fame quickly spread across Europe. She befriended many intellectuals, sat for the finest artists of the age, and spurned an offer of marriage from Prince Augustus of Prussia. Despite having a large number of celebrity admirers, she is believed to have never had a physical love relationship with anyone. She died of cholera in 1849.

Similar to:

Joseph Chinard (Artist)

Dimensions:

Height: 23.23 in (59 cm)Width: 13.78 in (35 cm)Depth: 8.67 in (22 cm)

Style:

Neoclassical (In the Style Of)

Materials and Techniques:

Carrara Marble,Carved

Place of Origin:

France

Period:

Late 19th Century