Lot Essay
Prosper d'Epinay was born in British Mauritius, the son of prominent politician Adrien d'Epinay. In 1851 he moved to France, taking up sculpture some seven years later and training in Paris and Rome. Well known for the caricatures that he exhibited at the Salon des Humoristes, he also executed a large number of busts of society ladies and members of the aristocracy - among them the acclaimed bust of the Imperatrice d'Autriche - as well as portraits of his contemporaries such as the artists Mariano Fortuny and Henri Regnault.
D'Epinay's sculpted oeuvre covers a wide variety of subjects in marble, terracotta and bronze. If his sources have been described as eclectic, his inspiration can be traced to the Antique that he would have seen in Rome and the ideal of smoothly constructed forms based on the 18th century concepts of form. Thiebault-Sisson titled his lengthy eulogistic article on the artist in La Nouvelle Revue of 1887 l'Art Elegant, and rightly tied d'Epinay's work to the sculptural tradition of Falconet in France and Canova in Italy to which was added "...la fantasie...(et) le goût et le sens inventif de la décoration" (p. 833). With as much importance given to the base and the pedestal as to the subject itself, d'Epinay invests his sculptures with a sense of completion, independence and personality.
Having left Danton's atelier for that of d'Amici's in Rome, d'Epinay embarked on a prolific output, producing, amongst other works, l'Enfance d'Annibal (the bronze edition is now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art). It is in Rome that he became friends with the Spanish painter Fortuny and Regnault who later referred to d'Epinay's "aristocratic" hand.
This 1884 marble (Salon entry no.3491) represents the heroine of Alfred de Musset's Rolla some 50 years after the publication of the tragic poem that recounts the decline and death of a young man of fortune and promise. In Henry Gervex's 1878 painting of the same subject the emphasis was on the dramatic final moment of the young Rolla's life. Following a night of debauchery with a 15 year old prostitute the hero of the poem kills himself. In the painting, Marion slumbers peacefully while Rolla stands by the window, seemingly caught between a moment of love and his own tragic destiny. In the poem, Marion offers Rolla her gold necklace in hopes of helping him from his misfortune - a gesture that saves his soul (if not his life) and purifies hers in spite of her profession.
"Cette ravissante Marie(sic) qu'il endort, en souvenir des beaux vers de Rolla, sur un lit de repos, est un irréprochable et savoureux morceau de nu. Indépendamment de la perfection des formes, dont l'honneur, après tout ne revient pas tout entier au modèle, il y a dans les plis de cette chair, dans ce dos ci savmment étudié, si scrupuleusement rendu, des habiletés sans nombre et des délicatesses d'exécution inouïes. On sent frémir la chair et presque tressaillir l'épiderme." (Thiebault-Sisson, p.847)
Other critics were equally impressed. The work was praised by Emile Blemont in l'Artiste and in his review of the Salon of 1884, Louis de Fourcaud wrote, "...M. Prosper d'Epinay étend sur un petit lit la Marion de Rolla, paisiblement endormie, et tresse ses cheveux de marbre de façon à ravir les badauds..." (Le Salon de 1884, troisime Art, p.50)
This late 19th century nude is based on the Greco-Roman model Hermaphrodite - a sculpture of a sleeping figure showing her back with tressled hair and a sheet wound around the lower legs. The most famous version, restored by Bernini, is in the Borghese Collection. Another version, discovered in the 17th century near the Baths of Diocletian, is now in the Louvre. One, or both, would have been known to d'Epinay who takes an antique source, combines it with a romantic poem to form a gracefully sensual icon.
D'Epinay's sculpted oeuvre covers a wide variety of subjects in marble, terracotta and bronze. If his sources have been described as eclectic, his inspiration can be traced to the Antique that he would have seen in Rome and the ideal of smoothly constructed forms based on the 18th century concepts of form. Thiebault-Sisson titled his lengthy eulogistic article on the artist in La Nouvelle Revue of 1887 l'Art Elegant, and rightly tied d'Epinay's work to the sculptural tradition of Falconet in France and Canova in Italy to which was added "...la fantasie...(et) le goût et le sens inventif de la décoration" (p. 833). With as much importance given to the base and the pedestal as to the subject itself, d'Epinay invests his sculptures with a sense of completion, independence and personality.
Having left Danton's atelier for that of d'Amici's in Rome, d'Epinay embarked on a prolific output, producing, amongst other works, l'Enfance d'Annibal (the bronze edition is now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art). It is in Rome that he became friends with the Spanish painter Fortuny and Regnault who later referred to d'Epinay's "aristocratic" hand.
This 1884 marble (Salon entry no.3491) represents the heroine of Alfred de Musset's Rolla some 50 years after the publication of the tragic poem that recounts the decline and death of a young man of fortune and promise. In Henry Gervex's 1878 painting of the same subject the emphasis was on the dramatic final moment of the young Rolla's life. Following a night of debauchery with a 15 year old prostitute the hero of the poem kills himself. In the painting, Marion slumbers peacefully while Rolla stands by the window, seemingly caught between a moment of love and his own tragic destiny. In the poem, Marion offers Rolla her gold necklace in hopes of helping him from his misfortune - a gesture that saves his soul (if not his life) and purifies hers in spite of her profession.
"Cette ravissante Marie(sic) qu'il endort, en souvenir des beaux vers de Rolla, sur un lit de repos, est un irréprochable et savoureux morceau de nu. Indépendamment de la perfection des formes, dont l'honneur, après tout ne revient pas tout entier au modèle, il y a dans les plis de cette chair, dans ce dos ci savmment étudié, si scrupuleusement rendu, des habiletés sans nombre et des délicatesses d'exécution inouïes. On sent frémir la chair et presque tressaillir l'épiderme." (Thiebault-Sisson, p.847)
Other critics were equally impressed. The work was praised by Emile Blemont in l'Artiste and in his review of the Salon of 1884, Louis de Fourcaud wrote, "...M. Prosper d'Epinay étend sur un petit lit la Marion de Rolla, paisiblement endormie, et tresse ses cheveux de marbre de façon à ravir les badauds..." (Le Salon de 1884, troisime Art, p.50)
This late 19th century nude is based on the Greco-Roman model Hermaphrodite - a sculpture of a sleeping figure showing her back with tressled hair and a sheet wound around the lower legs. The most famous version, restored by Bernini, is in the Borghese Collection. Another version, discovered in the 17th century near the Baths of Diocletian, is now in the Louvre. One, or both, would have been known to d'Epinay who takes an antique source, combines it with a romantic poem to form a gracefully sensual icon.