Live Auction 6729IMPORTANT EUROPEAN FURNITURE,SCULPTURE,TAPESTRIES & CARPETS
A PAIR OF BRONZE FIGURES OF ATALANTA AND HIPPOMENES
Lot 1098

A PAIR OF BRONZE FIGURES OF ATALANTA AND HIPPOMENES

FRENCH, AFTER PIERRE LEPAUTRE AND GUILLAUME COUSTOU, LATE 18TH OR EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Price Realised

GBP 5,377

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A PAIR OF BRONZE FIGURES OF ATALANTA AND HIPPOMENES
French, after Pierre Lepautre and Guillaume Coustou, late 18th or early 19th century
Each on an integrally cast circular base and a later slate plinth.
Medium brown patina with lighter high points; minor scratches; Hippomenes' right arm lose at joint.
16¼ and 16½ in. (41.2 and 42 cm.) high, overall (2)

Specialist note

The bitter sweet myth of Atalanta and Hippomenes tells how the athletic goddess would challenge her suitors to a race in which the loser was punished by death. Hippomenes also took up the challenge, which he won by dropping three golden apples, (given to him by Veneus) which Atalanta stopped to pick up.

The original statues on which the present bronzes are based were made for the gardens at Marly and are now housed in the Louvre, Paris. The figure of Atalanta is after Pierre Lepautre's marble of 1704 and Hippomenes after Guillaume Coustou's marble of 1712.