A LARGE FRENCH PARCEL-GILT BRONZE HALF-LENGTH FIGURE OF HELEN OF TROY, cast from a model by Auguste Clésinger,shown wearing a light tunic exposing one breast, her head crowned with a tiara with gilt rosettes and turned to the right, her hair dressed in a long ribbon all'antica, wearing gilt earrings and a gilt serpent arm band, her tunic held by a gilt morse on her left shoulder, her arms crossed, her right hand with a ring on the little finger and toying with the strings of her gilt necklace, signed and dated J. CLESINGER. ROME. 1860. and inscribed F. BARBEDIENNE. FONDEUR., with Collas Reduction Mechanique stamp, on parcel-gilt turned bronze socle, late 19th Century

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

Details

A LARGE FRENCH PARCEL-GILT BRONZE HALF-LENGTH FIGURE OF HELEN OF TROY, cast from a model by Auguste Clésinger,shown wearing a light tunic exposing one breast, her head crowned with a tiara with gilt rosettes and turned to the right, her hair dressed in a long ribbon all'antica, wearing gilt earrings and a gilt serpent arm band, her tunic held by a gilt morse on her left shoulder, her arms crossed, her right hand with a ring on the little finger and toying with the strings of her gilt necklace, signed and dated J. CLESINGER. ROME. 1860. and inscribed F. BARBEDIENNE. FONDEUR., with Collas Reduction Mechanique stamp, on parcel-gilt turned bronze socle, late 19th Century
32½in. (82.5cm.) high

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Paris, Barbedienne, Catalogue des Bronzes d'Art, 1886, pp. 58-9
S. Lami, Dictionnaire des Sculpteurs de l'École François au Dix-Neuvième Siècle, Paris, 1914, p. 401
P. Kjellberg, Les Bronzes du XIXe Siècle, Paris, 1987, pp. 215-6

Lot Essay

The present fine bust is a reduction of the full-length figure of Helen which Auguste Clésinger (1814-1883) executed in Rome in 1864. The foundry Barbedienne cast both the full-length figure and the half-length figure in bronze in various sizes, the present being the largest. The original marble full-length figure of Helen was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1864, though Clésinger had exhibited a bust of the same subject earlier in 1861, which may also relate to the present model. In 1863 Clésinger had exhibited a marble full-length statuette of a Bacchante, which was also reduced to a half-length format. These two busts, that of Helen and of the Bacchante, share the low waist-level truncation and the elegant play of arms and hands. Clésinger has chosen to depict Helen of Troy with an idealised classical beauty, but has enlivened the figure by the turn of the head and the realistic movement of the hands and arms. The fine texture of the tunic is successfully conveyed through the multitude of folds, some hanging over her arm, others pulled tight across her waist. Finely cast by Barbedienne and further enriched by the parcel-gilding, the present bust is a glamorous vision of the beautiful Helen.

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