COADESTONE. TERRACOTTAS.
A TERRACOTTA GROUP OF A FEMALE FAUN & CHILD
IN THE MANNER OF CLAUDE MICHEL CLODION (1738-1814)
French – Probably 19th Century.
The charming French terracotta group depicting the figure of a young female faun crowned with vines and holding out grapes to a child at her side modelled in the manner of Claude Michel Clodion, about 1790.
Clodion was son-in-law of the sculptor Augustin Pajou and the nephew of sculptor Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, with both of whom he trained, later training also with the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. In 1759 he won the grand prize for Sculpture at the Academie Royale, and went to Rome in 1762 where he shared a studio with Jean-Antoine Houdon. His studies of antiquities, Renaissance and Baroque sculpture in Italy increased his interest in terracotta models as independent works of art, and he became a skilful modeller in clay, his preferred subjects being detailed studies of nymphs, satyrs and bacchantes.
Among his clients was Catherine the Great, who tried to persuade him to her court in St Petersburg, but Clodion returned to Paris in 1771 where he continued to exhibit at the Salon, adjusting his style after the Revolution to work on public monuments in Paris, including the Arc de Triomphe du Carousel.
Height: 12” (30 cm)
Width: 6 ½” (16 cm)
Depth: 6 ½” (16 cm)