19TH CENTURY, IN THE MANNER OF ETIENNE-MAURICE FALCONET

This marble is after the group of small marble sculptures produced in the workshop of Etienne-Maurice Falconet (1716-1791). A related marble group, Fidelity Crowning Love, in the Frick Collection (J. Pope-Hennessy, Sculpture in the Frick Collection, New York, 1970, p. 95), displays the same symbolism and soft, fleshy modelling. Another series of seated female bathers, one based on a model by Falconet or his followers at Waddesdon Manor (G. Levitine, The Sculpture of Falconet, Greenwich, 1972, fig. 70) and another attributed to Gilles Lambert Godecharle (sold anonymously in these Rooms, 28 September 1995, lot 35) are closer in pose, scale and emotive quietude. A model of identical pose, one of a pair from the collection of Thelma Chrysler Foy, was sold at Parke-Bernet, New York, 13-16 May 1959, lot 287.