Lot Essay
Translated, "Cinderella" is the popular stepchild heroine from an anonymous fairy tale probably originating in China.
THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
(Lots 145-166)
A COLLECTION OF WOKS BY EMMANUELE VILLANIS
Born in Lille of Italian Parents, Emmanuele Villanis (or Villani) was perhaps the most prolific sculptor of the late Victorian early Art Nouveau period. In the late 1880's after his initial successes, Villanis shunned the exhibit and salon circuits. It was said that he became an industry unto himself and that his prolific output of bronzes are what helped keep France solvent during the 1880s and 1890s!
Villanis's works are almost exclusively of female subjects. Predominantly busts, these are easily recognizable by the artistic scrolling of the subject's name below her face. Also characteristic of his sculpture are the perfect, ideally proportioned features of his women's faces. Their facial expressions might often be described as pensive, serene and detached, these realistically achieved by the deep cuts made for their eyes - a technique used by Villanis in sharp contrast to other sculptors of his time who tried to reproduce the natural eyeball.
The vast majority of Villanis's bronzes were cast under the seal of the Société des Bronzes, Paris.
A BRONZE BUST OF CENDRILLON, cast from a model by Emmanuele Villanis, shown wearing a scarf and looking to her left, on square shaped socle inscribed CENDRILLON and signed Villanis, impressed VRAI BRONZE GARANTI PARIS with the initials BL in a roundel, circa 1895
Details
A BRONZE BUST OF CENDRILLON, cast from a model by Emmanuele Villanis, shown wearing a scarf and looking to her left, on square shaped socle inscribed CENDRILLON and signed Villanis, impressed VRAI BRONZE GARANTI PARIS with the initials BL in a roundel, circa 1895
12in. (30.5cm.) high
12in. (30.5cm.) high