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225
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Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827–1875)
See original version (French)
225
-
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827–1875)
See original version (French)
Estimate €2,500 - €3,500
Voluntary lot
Description
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827–1875)
Terracotta bust depicting the composer Charles Gounod (1818–1893)
Resting on a flared plinth; signed ‘JBt Carpeaux’; some damage.
Height: 63.5 cm
Provenance:
- Passed down through the family of Charles GOUNOD to the current owner.
In 1873, in London, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux created a bust portrait of his friend, the composer Charles Gounod (1818–1893), whilst the latter was giving a series of concerts there.
Produced in two sizes, the terracotta bust went on sale from 1873. Gounod himself commissioned several copies for his close friends and family.
Work began on 4 March 1873, whilst Gounod was composing a *Miserere*, now lost. By 18 March, he was already describing the bust as ‘admirable and full of life’.
In a letter from 1876, after he had returned to France, Gounod recalled his modelling sessions with Carpeaux: ‘The twelve or fourteen sessions during which I sat for him allowed me to appreciate the full extent of the passion Carpeaux felt for the great art to which he devoted his life, which was, alas, all too short. Just as in his work, he revealed himself in conversation: ardent, fiery, passionate and persevering; one could see in his gaze the speed and fervour of his creative vision.” (J. D. Draper &
E. Papet, loc. cit).
The bust, characterised by expressive modelling and surfaces evoking the suppleness of wet clay, enjoyed considerable success in terracotta. The smaller version, such as the bust presented here, measures 63.5 × 53.5 × 29 cm. The marble version exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1873 and the example in Saint-Béat stone created in 1877 have not been traced.
Several versions are now held in public and private collections, notably at the Musée des Avelines – including a copy that belonged to Angèle Duglé, Gounod’s niece – and at the Musée Carnavalet (S3487), in the museums of Valenciennes, at the Château de Compiègne, at the Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain (ART45), at the Museo del Prado (E000771), and in the United States. Our bust has remained in the composer’s family to this day.
Comparative bibliography:
M. Poletti & A. Richarme, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, sculptor. Catalogue raisonné of published works, Paris, no. BU 21, pp. 120–121, 2003.
James David Draper & Edouard Papet, *The Passions of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux*, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2014, pp. 239–40.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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