La baigneuse (The bather)

Name: AFTER ÉTIENNE-MAURICE FALCONET (1716 - 1791)
Brand: La baigneuse (The bather)
Price: 13000.00 GBP
Availability: SoldOut

Price Realised GBP 16,250

Estimate

GBP 6,000 - GBP 8,000

Closed: 25 Feb 2021

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AFTER ÉTIENNE-MAURICE FALCONET (1716 - 1791)

La baigneuse (The bather)

Price Realised GBP 16,250

Closed: 25 Feb 2021

Price Realised GBP 16,250

Closed: 25 Feb 2021

Details Lot Essay Related Articles More from

AFTER ÉTIENNE-MAURICE FALCONET (1716 - 1791)
La baigneuse (The bather)
inscribed to the base 'FALCONET VENUS' and 'MADE FROM POLETTI e GHIO/ CARRARA'
marble
32³⁄₄ in. (83 cm.) high; 10¹⁄₄ in. (26 cm.) diameter, the base
Concieved circa 1757.
This marble circa 1900.

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Lot Essay

The prototype of the or , was executed by Etienne-Maurice Falconet 1750 and was first exhibited in the Salon of 1757 described as 'no. 131 - Nymphe qui descend du bain'. Shortly after it entered the collection of Mme Du Barry at Louveciennes until seized during the French revolution. It was subsequently documented in 1824 in the Grand Trianon at Versailles, and finally moved to Louvre 1855 where it remains today (inv. M.R. 1846).
Falconet almost certainly adapted his pose from a painting of the same subject by François Lemoyne of 1724, which was itself very often copied in the first half of the 18th century. The Bather's popularity was such that as late as 1775 Pajou executed a bust of Madame du Barry with her hair arranged 'in the manner of Falconet's Bather' (G. Levitine, , New York, 1972., pp. 31 - 33). Its success led to reproductions in all media throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, as seen with the present example.