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Lot Essay
Born in Mauritius, the son of a prominent politician, Prosper d'Epinay moved to Paris in 1851 initially working as a caricaturist before taking up sculpture some seven years later. D'Epinay left for Rome and then London in 1864 returning to France in the 1870s. Acclaimed for his busts of members of high society, most notably his portraits of Edward, Prince of Wales purchased by Queen Victoria, and his bust of the 'Impératrice d'Autriche', d'Epinay was highly successful on both sides of the Channel.
D'Epinay's sculpted oeuvre covers a wide variety of subjects in marble, terracotta and bronze. An ecclectic artist, his subjects range from the antique sculpture that he would have seen first hand in Rome to the mannerist style of ecole de fountainbleu artist Jean Goyjon. The sensual languid lines and smoothly idealized forms link d'Epinay's work to the classical ideal honed in the late 18th/early 19th Century - the marrriage of Canova's elegance with a decorative flair. The critic Thiebault-Sisson's lengthy article on the sculptor, entitled L'Art Elegant, ties d'Epinay's art to these French and Italian traditions.
D'Epinay's Sylvie was first executed in 1876 and was commissioned by the American millionaire newspaper owner, James Gordon Bennett, founder of the Herald. Another example of the figure, possibly the present lot, was sold as lot 9 in d'Epinay's studio sale, Paris, 14 April 1902.
Another example of Sylvie was sold Christie's New York, 11 November 1998, lot 43 ($80,500).
D'Epinay's sculpted oeuvre covers a wide variety of subjects in marble, terracotta and bronze. An ecclectic artist, his subjects range from the antique sculpture that he would have seen first hand in Rome to the mannerist style of ecole de fountainbleu artist Jean Goyjon. The sensual languid lines and smoothly idealized forms link d'Epinay's work to the classical ideal honed in the late 18th/early 19th Century - the marrriage of Canova's elegance with a decorative flair. The critic Thiebault-Sisson's lengthy article on the sculptor, entitled L'Art Elegant, ties d'Epinay's art to these French and Italian traditions.
D'Epinay's Sylvie was first executed in 1876 and was commissioned by the American millionaire newspaper owner, James Gordon Bennett, founder of the Herald. Another example of the figure, possibly the present lot, was sold as lot 9 in d'Epinay's studio sale, Paris, 14 April 1902.
Another example of Sylvie was sold Christie's New York, 11 November 1998, lot 43 ($80,500).