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Lot Essay
The Group:
This impressive terracotta group represents a remarkable survival of France's Ancien Rgime and is probably the most fully documented piece of sculpture of its type to have come onto the international market. Inextricably linked to the fortunes of two historic chteaux, the Chteau des Ternes in Paris and the Chteau de Canon in Normandy, this discovery, along with the survival of all the relevant bills of payment, is certainly due to the fact that the group was removed from Paris to the relative tranquility of the countryside a mere ten years before the outbreak of the French Revolution.
This terracotta group is most likely to have been commissioned for the remodelling of the gardens of the Chteau des Ternes, which have been carried out by Pomponne Mirey as well as by Grgoire-Nicolas-Ren Masse. However, the first apparent evidence of the group is in the 1755 edition of Dezallier d'Argenville's Voyage pittoresque aux environs de Paris, where he describes the gardens which include '... un beau portique servant d'entre une salle entoure de treillages et de figures, avec un bassin et termine par un autre grand portique dcor d'un groupe de sculptures'. By the time of the 1768 edition, the description has been made more precise, and there can be no doubt that the present lot is being described: 'Autour d'une pice d'eau sont six statues, galement grandeur nature et en terre cuite...On admirait aussi...Neptune, une naade et un enfant jouant avec un cygne...' (cited in Lemoine and Trouilleux, op. cit., p. 118).
From this time, the group's history is connected with the fate of the chteau itself, until the architect Lenoir bought the Chteau des Ternes, and stripped it of many of its furnishings. The bill of sale between Lenoir and Elie de Beaumont, who purchased the group along with other garden ornaments for his new home, the Chteau de Canon, exists today among the archives kept by the descendants of Elie de Beaumont, who still reside at Chteau de Canon. The terracotta group was sold by the family circa 1913, prior to which photographs were made showing it in situ. Today, the pedestal on which it was placed remains, alone, at the end of the bassin at Canon.
Chteau des Ternes:
First built in 1505 for Oudart de Cauperel, the house changed hands several times until bought, 18 December 1663, by Michel Le Bouteux, Fleuriste ordinaire du Roi, then Concierge du Chteau de Trianon. Nephew of Le Ntre, the designer of the gardens at Vaux-le-Vicomte and Versailles, he laid out the gardens of the Trianon de Porcelain next to the Grand Canal, at Versailles. His widow bequeathed it, 19 June 1705, to their grandson Charles Billet, Sieur de Praux, Sous-Gouverneur des Pages da la Grande Ecurie at Versailles, who in turn sold it, 20 December 1707, to Jean-Paul Bombarda, Conseiller et Trsorier Gnral de S.A.E. Mgr le Duc de Bavire, for 5,000 Livres and 550 Livres de rente. His widow sold it, 21 March 1715, to Pomponne Mirey (d. 1740), Ecuyer, Conseiller, Secrtaire du Roi, Receveur des Consignations des Requtes du Palais for 24,000 Livres. Under his direction the house, interiors and gardens were remodelled in the new fashionable style. It was sold at his death by his widow for 80,000 Livres to Grgoire-Nicolas-Ren Masse (d. 1766), Conseiller-Secrtaire du Roi. The gardens were then enlarged, an orangerie built and a vegetable garden created and modelled en patte d'oie. After his death, it was sold by his sister in 1768 for 150,000 Livres to Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully, Marquis de Rmoville (d. 1779) and his wife Marie-Louise de Nettine, sister of Laborde, Banquier de la Cour. Celebrated amateur, Lalive de Jully, son of the extremely wealthy fermier gnral Lalive de Bellegarde, collected on a grand scale and introduced the gut grec in France in the 1750s. Sadly, however, he became ill and depressed and his wife was forced to sell all his collections in 1770. The Chteau des Ternes and its contents were subsequently sold, 30 April 1771, for 140,000 Livres to Louis-Franois, Marquis de Galliffet (d. 1778). He bequeathed it at his death to his cousin Louis-Franois Alexandre, Comte de Galliffet, Prince de Martigues, who in turn sold the chteau, 11 August 1778, for 170,000 Livres to M. Normand, acting for MM. Lenoir et Cie. Samson Nicolas Lenoir, architect, sold the furniture and garden ornaments in 1778 and 1779, then split the estate and sold it in parcels in the late 1780s.
Chteau de Canon:
Thomas de Branger, Seigneur de Cerqueux, built the Chteau Branger in the late 17th century. At his death in 1695, the house and grounds were bequeathed to his son Robert, Seigneur et Patron de Canon, who sold them to Le Sieur de la Rocque, Receveur des Tailles Valognes, who built the ground floor of the Chteau de Canon. In 1768, he was forced to sell it by order of the Conseil d'Etat du Roy for 150,000 Livres to Anne Morin du Mesnil, grand-niece of Robert de Branger and wife of Jean-Baptiste Elie de Beaumont (d. 1786), Intendant des Finances de Monseigneur le Comte d'Artois. The first floor was then added to the house and the gardens remodelled, partially with fabriques, gates, treillages and this terracotta group, all coming from Chteau des Ternes.
The Symbolism:
The bearded river-deity, bearing Neptune's water-controlling trident and seated beside an upturned urn, symbolises a water-source. And like his water-nymph or 'nereid' companion, he is wreathed with bulrush-reeds, which are sacred to Pan, the ruler of Arcadia in Antiquity.
Celebrating the Element of water, the group is inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses or 'Love of the Gods', and derives from the history of the Sun-God Apollo. The swan, according to ancient poets, was associated with music and serves as an attribute of Apollo, leader of the Muses of artistic inspiration on Mount Parnassus. Embraced by Cupid, the swan would have been intended to spout water while Arcadian water-deities harken to its music.
Nicolas-Sbastien Adam:
This monumental and complex group is laden with lively, skilfully executed detail and interest, redolent of 17th century Italian garden statuary but infused with the more informal spirit of mid-18th century France. It recalls some of the grander paintings of Franois Boucher (d. 1770), so much associated with the French Rococo. The sculptor Nicolas-Sbastien Adam (1705-1778) studied in Rome with Boucher. After his return to Paris, he executed various works for Versailles, assisting his elder brother, Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, in the design and execution of the Neptune fountain (illustrated in Thirion, op. cit., between pp. 112 and 113) - a relevant comparison in the present instance - as well as contributing to the decorations of the early Rococo masterpiece of interior decoration, the Htel de Soubise, Paris. During the 1740s, he carried out important commissions in many French cities including Nancy, his home town.
We would like to thank Mr Alain de Mzerac, Chteau de Canon, for his assistance in the preparation of this entry.
The French Export Licence No. 10739 was granted on 9 July 1996 by the Ministre de la Culture, Direction des Muss de France, Paris.
This impressive terracotta group represents a remarkable survival of France's Ancien Rgime and is probably the most fully documented piece of sculpture of its type to have come onto the international market. Inextricably linked to the fortunes of two historic chteaux, the Chteau des Ternes in Paris and the Chteau de Canon in Normandy, this discovery, along with the survival of all the relevant bills of payment, is certainly due to the fact that the group was removed from Paris to the relative tranquility of the countryside a mere ten years before the outbreak of the French Revolution.
This terracotta group is most likely to have been commissioned for the remodelling of the gardens of the Chteau des Ternes, which have been carried out by Pomponne Mirey as well as by Grgoire-Nicolas-Ren Masse. However, the first apparent evidence of the group is in the 1755 edition of Dezallier d'Argenville's Voyage pittoresque aux environs de Paris, where he describes the gardens which include '... un beau portique servant d'entre une salle entoure de treillages et de figures, avec un bassin et termine par un autre grand portique dcor d'un groupe de sculptures'. By the time of the 1768 edition, the description has been made more precise, and there can be no doubt that the present lot is being described: 'Autour d'une pice d'eau sont six statues, galement grandeur nature et en terre cuite...On admirait aussi...Neptune, une naade et un enfant jouant avec un cygne...' (cited in Lemoine and Trouilleux, op. cit., p. 118).
From this time, the group's history is connected with the fate of the chteau itself, until the architect Lenoir bought the Chteau des Ternes, and stripped it of many of its furnishings. The bill of sale between Lenoir and Elie de Beaumont, who purchased the group along with other garden ornaments for his new home, the Chteau de Canon, exists today among the archives kept by the descendants of Elie de Beaumont, who still reside at Chteau de Canon. The terracotta group was sold by the family circa 1913, prior to which photographs were made showing it in situ. Today, the pedestal on which it was placed remains, alone, at the end of the bassin at Canon.
Chteau des Ternes:
First built in 1505 for Oudart de Cauperel, the house changed hands several times until bought, 18 December 1663, by Michel Le Bouteux, Fleuriste ordinaire du Roi, then Concierge du Chteau de Trianon. Nephew of Le Ntre, the designer of the gardens at Vaux-le-Vicomte and Versailles, he laid out the gardens of the Trianon de Porcelain next to the Grand Canal, at Versailles. His widow bequeathed it, 19 June 1705, to their grandson Charles Billet, Sieur de Praux, Sous-Gouverneur des Pages da la Grande Ecurie at Versailles, who in turn sold it, 20 December 1707, to Jean-Paul Bombarda, Conseiller et Trsorier Gnral de S.A.E. Mgr le Duc de Bavire, for 5,000 Livres and 550 Livres de rente. His widow sold it, 21 March 1715, to Pomponne Mirey (d. 1740), Ecuyer, Conseiller, Secrtaire du Roi, Receveur des Consignations des Requtes du Palais for 24,000 Livres. Under his direction the house, interiors and gardens were remodelled in the new fashionable style. It was sold at his death by his widow for 80,000 Livres to Grgoire-Nicolas-Ren Masse (d. 1766), Conseiller-Secrtaire du Roi. The gardens were then enlarged, an orangerie built and a vegetable garden created and modelled en patte d'oie. After his death, it was sold by his sister in 1768 for 150,000 Livres to Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully, Marquis de Rmoville (d. 1779) and his wife Marie-Louise de Nettine, sister of Laborde, Banquier de la Cour. Celebrated amateur, Lalive de Jully, son of the extremely wealthy fermier gnral Lalive de Bellegarde, collected on a grand scale and introduced the gut grec in France in the 1750s. Sadly, however, he became ill and depressed and his wife was forced to sell all his collections in 1770. The Chteau des Ternes and its contents were subsequently sold, 30 April 1771, for 140,000 Livres to Louis-Franois, Marquis de Galliffet (d. 1778). He bequeathed it at his death to his cousin Louis-Franois Alexandre, Comte de Galliffet, Prince de Martigues, who in turn sold the chteau, 11 August 1778, for 170,000 Livres to M. Normand, acting for MM. Lenoir et Cie. Samson Nicolas Lenoir, architect, sold the furniture and garden ornaments in 1778 and 1779, then split the estate and sold it in parcels in the late 1780s.
Chteau de Canon:
Thomas de Branger, Seigneur de Cerqueux, built the Chteau Branger in the late 17th century. At his death in 1695, the house and grounds were bequeathed to his son Robert, Seigneur et Patron de Canon, who sold them to Le Sieur de la Rocque, Receveur des Tailles Valognes, who built the ground floor of the Chteau de Canon. In 1768, he was forced to sell it by order of the Conseil d'Etat du Roy for 150,000 Livres to Anne Morin du Mesnil, grand-niece of Robert de Branger and wife of Jean-Baptiste Elie de Beaumont (d. 1786), Intendant des Finances de Monseigneur le Comte d'Artois. The first floor was then added to the house and the gardens remodelled, partially with fabriques, gates, treillages and this terracotta group, all coming from Chteau des Ternes.
The Symbolism:
The bearded river-deity, bearing Neptune's water-controlling trident and seated beside an upturned urn, symbolises a water-source. And like his water-nymph or 'nereid' companion, he is wreathed with bulrush-reeds, which are sacred to Pan, the ruler of Arcadia in Antiquity.
Celebrating the Element of water, the group is inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses or 'Love of the Gods', and derives from the history of the Sun-God Apollo. The swan, according to ancient poets, was associated with music and serves as an attribute of Apollo, leader of the Muses of artistic inspiration on Mount Parnassus. Embraced by Cupid, the swan would have been intended to spout water while Arcadian water-deities harken to its music.
Nicolas-Sbastien Adam:
This monumental and complex group is laden with lively, skilfully executed detail and interest, redolent of 17th century Italian garden statuary but infused with the more informal spirit of mid-18th century France. It recalls some of the grander paintings of Franois Boucher (d. 1770), so much associated with the French Rococo. The sculptor Nicolas-Sbastien Adam (1705-1778) studied in Rome with Boucher. After his return to Paris, he executed various works for Versailles, assisting his elder brother, Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, in the design and execution of the Neptune fountain (illustrated in Thirion, op. cit., between pp. 112 and 113) - a relevant comparison in the present instance - as well as contributing to the decorations of the early Rococo masterpiece of interior decoration, the Htel de Soubise, Paris. During the 1740s, he carried out important commissions in many French cities including Nancy, his home town.
We would like to thank Mr Alain de Mzerac, Chteau de Canon, for his assistance in the preparation of this entry.
The French Export Licence No. 10739 was granted on 9 July 1996 by the Ministre de la Culture, Direction des Muss de France, Paris.