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Lot Essay
Jacques-Francois-Joseph Saly trained in Paris with Guillaume Coustou before studying at the Academie de France in Rome from 1740 to 1748. The drawings of 30 ornamental vases which he executed at that time were later printed and became hugely influential among neo-classical sculptors of the 18th and 19th centuries. He was admitted to the Academie Royale in 1751 and continued a successful career in Paris before travelling to Denmark in 1753 to fulfill a commission to execute a large equestrian bronze statue of Frederick V (Amalienborg Square). He returned to France in 1774, two years before his death.
The present, beautifully executed bronze figure of Eros is directly comparable to an example in the Louvre in terms of detail, size, facture and finish. That bronze, which entered the museum in 1912 from the collection of the Baron de Schlichting, was formerly attributed to Etienne-Maurice Falconet, and then in 1942, it was attributed to Saly on the basis of its similarity to a written description of a lost marble Cupid he did for Mme de Pompadour in circa 1753 (Thorlacius-Ussing, op. cit.) . Although the recent re-appearance of that marble now suggests that the bronze is not, in fact, directly related to it (see Madame de Pompadour, op. cit.), the stylistic similarities noted by Thorlacius-Ussing between the bronze in the Louvre and the documented marble of his Faun and Kid (Musée Cognac-Jay, Paris) suggest that the Eros is either a hitherto unrecognised composition by Saly, or a work by an artist directly influenced by him. With its exquisitely chiselled surface, the author of the present bronze has created a number of textures which accentuate the contrast between feathers, roses, and youthful skin. Eros' languidly erotic pose, the abandoned bow and arrow and, most importantly, the burning torch, all emphasise his role as the god of love and beauty.
The present, beautifully executed bronze figure of Eros is directly comparable to an example in the Louvre in terms of detail, size, facture and finish. That bronze, which entered the museum in 1912 from the collection of the Baron de Schlichting, was formerly attributed to Etienne-Maurice Falconet, and then in 1942, it was attributed to Saly on the basis of its similarity to a written description of a lost marble Cupid he did for Mme de Pompadour in circa 1753 (Thorlacius-Ussing, op. cit.) . Although the recent re-appearance of that marble now suggests that the bronze is not, in fact, directly related to it (see Madame de Pompadour, op. cit.), the stylistic similarities noted by Thorlacius-Ussing between the bronze in the Louvre and the documented marble of his Faun and Kid (Musée Cognac-Jay, Paris) suggest that the Eros is either a hitherto unrecognised composition by Saly, or a work by an artist directly influenced by him. With its exquisitely chiselled surface, the author of the present bronze has created a number of textures which accentuate the contrast between feathers, roses, and youthful skin. Eros' languidly erotic pose, the abandoned bow and arrow and, most importantly, the burning torch, all emphasise his role as the god of love and beauty.