STYLE OF CLODION, LATE 19TH CENTURY

Along with large-scale marble compositions, Clodion was well known for his smaller terracottas often depicting mythological subjects. Many examples survive from the end of the 18th Century and the beginning of the 19th Century. His lively scenes of Bacchanalian revellers and music-making Fauns were especially popular (see Poulet and Scherf, Clodion, Paris, 1992, p. 458).

This piece, after Clodion, exemplifies the characteristics he was often associated with: mythological imagery, lively movement and expressive features. The facial type is very similar to the terracotta of Erigone, in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (ibid., cat. no. 54, p. 262), while the compositional type resembles a similar seated female Faun with two children after Clodion (ibid., p. 368).