Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (French, 1827-1875)

'Jeune Pêcheur à la Coquille', A Bronze Figure

Details

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (French, 1827-1875)
'Jeune Pêcheur à la Coquille', A Bronze Figure
inscribed 'J.B. Carpeaux', stamped 'PROPRIETE CARPEAUX', with the estate eagle and inscribed 'Tiffany'
35¾in. (90.5cm.) high, rich black patina

Literature

H.W. Janson and P. Fusco, The Romantics to Rodin: French Nineteenth Century Sculpture, Los Angeles, 1980, cat. no. 29
A.M. Wagner, Jean Baptiste Carpeaux: Sculptor of the Second Empire, New Haven, 1986, figs. 132-133, 140
J.G. Lovett, A Romance with Realism: The Art of Jean-Baptist Carpeaux, Williamstown, 1989, cat. no. 1

Lot Essay

Carpeaux first worked on Jeaune Pêcheur à la Coquille in 1856 while studying at the French Academy in Rome. The Style and subject matter pay hommage to both Rude and Duret. In 1858 he exhibited the plaster model and the following year he submitted the bronze in the salon. Napoleon III purchased the marble version at the Salon of 1863. A decade later Carpeaux reworked the model with the addition of the net across the youth's thigh.