FR EN
1 / 5
a white marble statue of a woman holding a childstatue of a woman holding a baby in her armsstatue of a woman on a rock with a white cloth draped over itan image of a statue of a woman on a rockstatue of a woman holding a basket of flowers in her hands
Featured lot selected by the auctions House.
Premium ARTESIA - Maison de Ventes à Châtellerault

594 - Félicie de FAUVEAU (1801–1886),
See original version (French)

Estimate €15,000 - €20,000
Sale commission
Description
Félicie de FAUVEAU (1801–1886), Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Model created between 1843 and 1845. White marble statue. Signed “F de Fauveau”, surmounted by the rampant lion from the sculptor’s motto, on the right-hand side of the rock Inscribed “Scta Elisabeth Ungariae” on the left-hand side of the rock Height: 66.5 cm Length: 22.5 cm Depth: 46 cm Provenance: - Probably commissioned by Mrs Trotter in 1843 and acquired by Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Berry in 1845 directly from the artist; - Collection of Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Berry, Palazzo Vendramin Calergi, Grand Canal, Venice; - Subsequently sold from her collection in Paris by Maître Pillet at the Hôtel Drouot from 8 to 13 May 1865, lot no. 6; - Collection in Saint-Malo, late 1970s, - Passed down through the family Related works: - Félicie de Fauveau, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, 1846, marble, height 85 cm, inscribed ‘Fel de Fauveau’, Saint Petersburg, The Peterhof State Museum – Reserve; - Félicie de Fauveau, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, 1851, white marble, dimensions 50.8 × 38.1 × 22.9 cm, Art Institute of Chicago, inv. no. 2014.1064 Bibliography: - Catalogue of works of art and curiosities from the Vandramini Palace in Venice belonging to the Duchess of Berry, Drouot, 8–13 May 1865, lot 6; - Félicie de Fauveau. ‘The Amazon of Sculpture’, exhibition catalogue: Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne, Historial de Vendée, Paris, Musée d’Orsay, 2013, pp. 208–211 and entry no. 36, pp. 330–331, cited in the related work. Related literature: -Baron de Coubertin, ‘Mademoiselle de Fauveau’, in *Gazette des Beaux-Arts*, 1887, vol. XXXV, 2nd series, pp. 512–521; - Silvia Mascalchi, *Félicie de Fauveau: una scultrice romantica da Parigi a Firenze*, Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2012; pp. 55–75. Signed by the hand of the most famous female sculptor of the Romantic School, Félicie de Fauveau, this marble sculpture of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary had been missing since the late 19th century. A magnificent example of the ‘troubadour’ style of this incorruptible, committed artist, devoted to her faith and to the monarchy, the work proudly embodies the spirit of Romanticism, the celebration of female heroism and the influence of medieval art that characterise the sculptor’s finest works. After taking part in the Vendée uprisings in support of the elder branch of the Bourbons in 1832 alongside the Duchess of Berry and the Countess of La Rochejacquelein, the sculptor settled in Florence for a voluntary and permanent exile. The city’s great artistic wealth resonated with her aesthetic ideal, rooted in medieval Christian and Renaissance art. In her spacious studio, working alongside her brother Hippolyte, she produced a large number of works – tombs and portraits, medallions and jewellery, holy water fonts and statues of saints – for wealthy patrons who shared her political views. The location, which was very much in vogue, was featured in all the tourist guides; there she received the cream of European society, who were visiting the Grand Dukes of Tuscany. This figure, titled ‘Saint Elizabeth of Hungary’ in Latin, forms part of her body of work depicting triumphant saints, alongside Saint Geneviève (1841), Saint Dorothea and Saint Reparata (c. 1855). As with other devotional statues, the artist produced two versions of this work on commission. There is every reason to believe that this version is the first, resulting from the commission initiated in 1843 by Madame Trotter, an English Protestant friend of the artist. She specifically requested a sculpted depiction of the most famous scene from the legend of Saint Elizabeth (1297–1231): the miracle of the transformation of loaves of bread into roses. The sculptor, who took two years to conceive the subject, depicted the wife of the Landgrave of Thuringia dressed in 13th-century fashion, at the very moment she was caught by her husband. The saint, who was leaving the castle with her cloak filled with food to secretly distribute it to the poor, risked being caught ‘red-handed’. Here, however, there is no food in sight. The small loaves have already been transformed into flowers scattered across the sloping rock, and the pouch formed by the fold of her cloak is empty. Moreover, the drapery takes on the surprising and voluminous shape of a vat, suggesting that the sculpture may originally have served as a holy water font – a favourite motif of the artist. Her correspondence also indicates that Madame Trotter died before the work was completed in 1845. In April of that year, her friend the Duchess of Berry, who had already commissioned her portrait in 1840 (marble, height 60 cm, Detroit Institute of Arts), paid a visit to her half-sister, Marie-Antoinette de Bourbon-Sicile, the wife of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The Duchess of Berry seemed to take pleasure in acting as an intermediary on behalf of the sculptor with the Grand Duchess. She arranged for this sculpture of Saint Elizabeth and two holy water fonts to be transported to the ducal palace. One of the two was acquired by the Grand Ducal couple, whilst her patron, the Duchess, acquired the sculpture of Saint Elizabeth. The sculpture was housed in her Vendramini Palace in Venice for twenty years. The auction catalogue for this distinguished collection from the Venetian palace, which was sold off in May 1865 at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris, tells us that this work, measuring 67 cm in height, was sold on that occasion as lot number 6. A second, 85 cm marble version was already in progress in 1845, commissioned by the Empress of Russia, Alexandra Feodorovna, according to the catalogue of the exhibition held in France in 2013 (entry 36, p. 330). Having passed through various successive collections, notably that of Demidoff, it is currently held at the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve in Saint Petersburg. Although the artist returned to the subject a third time to create, in 1851, a bust set within a quatrefoil adorned with roses (Detroit Institute of Art), there is, to date, no other version of Saint Elizabeth mentioned in the literature or in the archives concerning the artist. Based on current knowledge, there is every reason to believe that this work, which miraculously reappeared in 2026 in a collection in Saint-Malo, is indeed the first version acquired by the Duchess of Berry in 1845. This discovery is a most welcome addition to the body of work by the famous ‘Amazon’ of sculpture
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale PRESTIGE - CLASSICAL CENTURIES - VAYRES CASTLE
Auction location
Auction time 10/18/2026 at 2:00 PM
Lot description modified on 09/30/2026 at 3:21 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like