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Charles Arthur BOURGEOIS (Dijon 1838 – Paris 1886)
The Snake…
See original version (French)
33
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Charles Arthur BOURGEOIS (Dijon 1838 – Paris 1886)
The Snake…
See original version (French)
Estimate €3,000 - €5,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Charles Arthur BOURGEOIS (Dijon 1838 – Paris 1886)
The Snake Charmer
Bronze cast with a brown patina
Inscribed ‘A. Bourgeois sculpteur’ and ‘L. Marchand éditeur’
Height: 83 cm
***
Bronze, brown patina, inscribed ‘A. Bourgeois sculpteur’ and ‘L. Marchand éditeur’ (height 32⅝ in.)
Presented at the 1863 Salon as a plaster cast — a commission from the State awarded whilst Bourgeois was residing at the Villa Medici as the winner of the Prix de Rome —, *The Snake Charmer* marks a break with academic tradition through its African ethnographic subject matter and the striking dynamism of the figure, which the critic Julien Girard de Rialle hailed as ‘a fine study in ethnography and a fine statue’. The composition follows in the tradition of *The Young Neapolitan Dancer* (1838) by Duret, Bourgeois’s teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts, whilst differing radically from it in its subject matter and the presence of the rearing snake. The monumental bronze was installed in front of the reptile house at the Menagerie of the National Museum of Natural History as early as 1874, where it remains to this day. The smaller versions, including this one, are distinguished by the rod held in the left hand, towards which the snake is moving with its mouth open.
Compare with the example in the Dahesh Museum of Art, New York.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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