Lot 141
141
JEAN BAPTISTE CLESINGER (French, 1814-1883)

Details
JEAN BAPTISTE CLESINGER (French, 1814-1883)

'Mlle. Rachel, dans le rôle de Phèdre', A White Marble Bust

signed 'J. CLESINGER'
35½in. (90.2cm.) high, including marble socle
Literature
A. Estignard, Clesinger, sa vie, ses oeuvres, Paris, 1900
S. Lami, Dictionnaire des Sculpteurs de L'école française au dix-neuvième siècle, Paris, 1916, 1970 reprint, pp. 395, 399

Lot Essay

Clesinger exhibited a pair of marble busts in the Salon of 1850 of the actress Mademoiselle Rachel. One bust was as her tragic role as Phèdre (no. 3258) and the other in her popular comic role in the play Le Moineau de Lesbie (no. 3259). In 1852, the Minister of the Interior commissioned a statue of 'La Tragedie' which was to be based on her Phedre. This full figure was placed at the top of the staircase in the Theatre de l'Odeon, Paris.