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an image of a statue of a man sitting on a rocka white statue of a man sitting on top of a sheep
ALEXANDRE LANDRE - SEMUR-EN-AUXOIS

110 - Jean-Baptiste PIGALLE (1714–1785), after
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Estimate €2,000 - €3,000
Sale commission
Description
Jean-Baptiste PIGALLE (1714–1785), after Mercury fastening his heel straps A major sculpture in white marble. Rests on a circular moulded wooden plinth. 19th-century work, after the model created by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle in 1744. H_61 cm (excluding plinth) H_72 cm (total). This composition is one of Jean-Baptiste Pigalle’s most famous works. The sculptor presented an initial model of Mercury upon his admission to the Royal Academy in 1741, then exhibited a plaster version at the 1742 Salon. The final marble sculpture, completed in 1744, served as his admission piece to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture on 30 July 1744. The model was a resounding success. Philibert Orry, Director-General of the King’s Buildings, commissioned a monumental version as early as 1742. The large marble sculpture was subsequently presented by Louis XV to Frederick II of Prussia, together with its companion piece, the Venus, and installed at Sanssouci in 1752. Pigalle also produced a monumental lead version in 1753, now held at the Louvre Related works: - Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, Mercury Fastening His Heel Straps, 1744, marble, H. 58 × W. 35.5 × D. 33 cm, Louvre Museum, inv. MR 1957; N 15437. This is Pigalle’s debut work and the direct model for our sculpture. - Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, Mercury Fastening His Heel Straps, 1753, lead, H. 187.1 cm, signed and dated on the plinth ‘Pigalle / 1753’, Louvre Museum, inv. RF 3023. - Louvre Museum casting workshop, after Pigalle, Mercury Fastening His Heel Strap, patinated plaster, c. 1937, height 57 cm, Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine, inv. MOU.07047. - Another version after Pigalle, in bronze, height 54 cm, on a grey marble plinth, is held in the collections of the CCI Nantes Saint-Nazaire, inv. 2012.21. Comparative bibliography: - Michael Levey, *The Art of the Eighteenth Century*, Paris, Flammarion, 1993, no. 138, p. 139; - Guillaume Faroult, Guilhem Scherf, Christophe Leribault et al., *L'Antiquité rêvée. Innovations et résistances au XVIIIe siècle*, Paris, Gallimard / Musée du Louvre, 2010, no. 18, p. 141.
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About the sale Collection of the Château de Villebourgeon & others
Auction location
Auction time 10/04/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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