AFTER THE MODELS BY MATHURIN MOREAU, LATE 19TH CENTURY

Mathurin Moreau (1822-1912) was the eldest brother in a successful and prolific family of sculptors. Mathurin studied under his father Jean Baptiste Moreau, Ramey and Dumont. He worked on numerous public monuments, as well as a series of large decorative bronze statuettes, for which he is primarily famed. He exhibited at the Salons, winning numerous awards and a medal at the 1900 Paris Great Exhibition. He became one of the administrators of the Val d'Osne foundry and it is likely that most of his own work was cast by this company. He was later appointed maire d'un arrondissement de Paris. Moreau's career was long and successful, specialising in allegorical and classical figures, statuettes of historic personalities and busts of his contemporaries. His work still embelishes major monuments around Paris today: l'Opéra, l'Hôtel de Ville, le Palais de Justice and the church of Saint- Augustin.

A similar single white marble group emblematic of Night, but smaller in size, sold in these rooms, anonymous sale, 24 April 2002, lot 282 ($15,535).