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Lot Essay
The present bronze depicts a youthful Eros, with elongated proportions and a languid contrapposto stance. The composition is known in a variant bronze in the Louvre (inv. OA 6919), which lacks the drapery but which includes a tree stump wreathed in flowers by the figure’s left leg. This latter bronze was formerly in the collection of Baron Basile de Schlichting (1857-1914). It was loaned to the Retrospective Exhibition of French Art at the Petit Palais during the 1900 International Exhibition (number 4710), and in 1902 it was published by Migeon with an attribution to Étienne-Maurice Falconet (op. cit., p. 10). At Schlichting’s death in 1914 the bronze was bequeathed to the museum but the attribution to Falconet was not subsequently retained. However, in 1942 it was suggested by Viggo Thorlacius-Ussing (op. cit.) that the description of a lost marble of cupid, commissioned by Mme de Pompadour from the sculptor Jacques Saly (1717-1776), seemed to correspond to the Louvre bronze and he argued for an attribution to the latter sculptor, both on the basis of the description but also on stylistic similarities, not least with Saly’s marble group of the Faun holding a Goat in the musée Cognac-Jay (inv. J 249). However, the Pompadour marble figure was subsequently rediscovered and was an entirely different composition, thereby throwing into question the attribution once again (for a discussion of the marble group see Salmon, loc. cit.).
A catalogue reference in a sale in 1777 suggests yet another candidate for the authorship of the present bronze: Edmé Bouchardon (1698-1762). Bouchardon grew up in a family of sculptors. A pupil of Guillaume Coustou, he won the Prix de Rome in 1722 and spent nine years studying in Italy, during which time he already began to receive important commissions. Given lodgings in the Louvre on his return to France in 1732, he was admitted to the Royal Academy in 1744 and taught there from 1745. Close to the Comte de Caylus and the connoisseur Pierre-Jean Mariette, he exhibited regularly at the Salon and had a wealthy clientele including Crozat, Julienne, and La Live de Jully. Several of his works are considered to be among the most important sculptural creations of the period, such as the Fountain of the Four Seasons on the rue de Grenelle, the bronze equestrian statue of the King for the newly created Place Louis XV - now the Place de la Concorde - and above all the marble group L'Amour se faisant un arc de la massue d'Hercule (‘Cupid making a bow from Hercules’ club’; Musée du Louvre, inv. MR 1761).
In the mid-18th century a terracotta model formed part of the collection of Daniel-Charles Trudaine (1703-1769), director of the Assemblée des Inspecteurs Généraux des Ponts et Chaussées, and was presented in his sale on 20 December 1777 as lot 75. This terracotta was described as: ‘La Sculpture de l'Hymen qui fait rougir le fer d'un fleche à son flambeau, en terre cuite, par Edme Bouchardon. Hauteur 27 pouces’ (‘The Sculpture of Hymen [the Greek god of marriage] who heats the iron of an arrow with his torch, in terracotta, by Edme Bouchardon. Height 27 pouces’). The dimensions correspond to approximately 73 cm. (28 ¾ in.), which is extremely close to the proportions of the present bronze, and the description - taking into account that the arrow that Eros should be holding in his right hand is now lacking - also corresponds directly.
There are also stylistic similarities between Bouchardon’s oeuvre and the present bronze, particularly if one looks to the individual figures he produced for the fountain in the rue de Grenelle (see Desmas, op. cit., pp. 238-249). The standing allegorical figures representing the seasons are perhaps more muscular than the bronze of Eros, but the latter figure is depicted as an adolescent. They share the same luxuriant wings and distinctive facial features with the narrow, slightly upturned nose. It would seem that the present bronze figure therefore relates most closely to the artistic milieu of Paris in the years around 1750, when Bouchardon had recently completed his fountain in the rue de Grenelle, and Saly was executing his morceau de reception, the Faun holding a Goat.
The present bronze depicts a youthful Eros, with elongated proportions and a languid contrapposto stance. The composition is known in a variant bronze in the Louvre (inv. OA 6919), which lacks the drapery but which includes a tree stump wreathed in flowers by the figure’s left leg. This latter bronze was formerly in the collection of Baron Basile de Schlichting (1857-1914). It was loaned to the Retrospective Exhibition of French Art at the Petit Palais during the 1900 International Exhibition (number 4710), and in 1902 it was published by Migeon with an attribution to Étienne-Maurice Falconet (op. cit., p. 10). At Schlichting’s death in 1914 the bronze was bequeathed to the museum but the attribution to Falconet was not subsequently retained. However, in 1942 it was suggested by Viggo Thorlacius-Ussing (op. cit.) that the description of a lost marble of cupid, commissioned by Mme de Pompadour from the sculptor Jacques Saly (1717-1776), seemed to correspond to the Louvre bronze and he argued for an attribution to the latter sculptor, both on the basis of the description but also on stylistic similarities, not least with Saly’s marble group of the Faun holding a Goat in the musée Cognac-Jay (inv. J 249). However, the Pompadour marble figure was subsequently rediscovered and was an entirely different composition, thereby throwing into question the attribution once again (for a discussion of the marble group see Salmon, loc. cit.).
A catalogue reference in a sale in 1777 suggests yet another candidate for the authorship of the present bronze: Edmé Bouchardon (1698-1762). Bouchardon grew up in a family of sculptors. A pupil of Guillaume Coustou, he won the Prix de Rome in 1722 and spent nine years studying in Italy, during which time he already began to receive important commissions. Given lodgings in the Louvre on his return to France in 1732, he was admitted to the Royal Academy in 1744 and taught there from 1745. Close to the Comte de Caylus and the connoisseur Pierre-Jean Mariette, he exhibited regularly at the Salon and had a wealthy clientele including Crozat, Julienne, and La Live de Jully. Several of his works are considered to be among the most important sculptural creations of the period, such as the Fountain of the Four Seasons on the rue de Grenelle, the bronze equestrian statue of the King for the newly created Place Louis XV - now the Place de la Concorde - and above all the marble group L'Amour se faisant un arc de la massue d'Hercule (‘Cupid making a bow from Hercules’ club’; Musée du Louvre, inv. MR 1761).
In the mid-18th century a terracotta model formed part of the collection of Daniel-Charles Trudaine (1703-1769), director of the Assemblée des Inspecteurs Généraux des Ponts et Chaussées, and was presented in his sale on 20 December 1777 as lot 75. This terracotta was described as: ‘La Sculpture de l'Hymen qui fait rougir le fer d'un fleche à son flambeau, en terre cuite, par Edme Bouchardon. Hauteur 27 pouces’ (‘The Sculpture of Hymen [the Greek god of marriage] who heats the iron of an arrow with his torch, in terracotta, by Edme Bouchardon. Height 27 pouces’). The dimensions correspond to approximately 73 cm. (28 ¾ in.), which is extremely close to the proportions of the present bronze, and the description - taking into account that the arrow that Eros should be holding in his right hand is now lacking - also corresponds directly.
There are also stylistic similarities between Bouchardon’s oeuvre and the present bronze, particularly if one looks to the individual figures he produced for the fountain in the rue de Grenelle (see Desmas, op. cit., pp. 238-249). The standing allegorical figures representing the seasons are perhaps more muscular than the bronze of Eros, but the latter figure is depicted as an adolescent. They share the same luxuriant wings and distinctive facial features with the narrow, slightly upturned nose. It would seem that the present bronze figure therefore relates most closely to the artistic milieu of Paris in the years around 1750, when Bouchardon had recently completed his fountain in the rue de Grenelle, and Saly was executing his morceau de reception, the Faun holding a Goat.