AFTER ANTOINE-DENIS CHAUDET (1763-1810), FRENCH, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Chaudet's return to France in 1788 after a four year sojourn in the Academie de France in Rome heralded the beginning of a long and illustrious official career for the, then, 25 year-old artist. Exhibiting regularly at the Salon, he was made an associate of the Academie Royale in 1789. Although he worked principally on small-scale groups during the Revolution, in 1792 he was commissioned to carve the stone relief of the Devotion to the Motherland as part of the project for the revolutionary transformation of the Pantheon. By 1805 Chaudet was one of the most widely honoured sculptors of the First Empire; he was made Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur, Professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and also became a member of the Institut de France.

The plaster upon which the present bronze figure of Cupid is based, was first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1802, with the marble - today in the Louvre - only being completed in 1810, after Chaudet's death. In spite of his death, the model was a massive success, so much so that numerous reductions in bronze were produced to cater for the ever-growing interest in the model. Although it is not clear at what stage Cupid adopted the pendant figure of Psyche, seen here disobediently opening Proserpina's casket of jewels, it remains that the pair was highly regarded; as a select number of highly finished bronzes, such as the ones offered here, demonstrate.