WORKSHOP OR AFTER ETIENNE MAURICE FALCONET, LATE 18TH CENTURY

This graceful marble, emblematic of late 18th century France, closely relates to several of Falconet's well-known models. One, La Douce Mélancolique, depicts a similarly lightly clad maiden standing alongside a column and cradling a dove seated on the column's top. This model was conceived in plaster as early as 1761 but the marble version -- destined for the famous collector de Lalive de Jully -- was exhibited in 1765. Another variation, L'Innocence couronnant l'Amour, known only through a Sèvres biscuit reduction and formerly in the Wildenstein Collection, has a pair of doves being crowned with a wreath of roses (see L. Réau, Etienne-Maurice Falconet, vol. I, Paris, 1922, pp. 224-225). However, the present model has substituted a more nature-inspired tree trunk for the columns found in the other Falconet versions.

The illustrious early provenance of the present lot, which was supplied by the 1953 sale catalogue, appears entirely plausible though it is not substantiated by known inventories. Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803), the British Minister Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, was one of the greatest connoisseurs of the 18^th century. His collection of both Antique and contemporary sculpture and works of art was legendary. As a resident of Naples for 36 years, he was a close friend and supporter of King Ferdinand IV.