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Premium DE BAECQUE et Associés - Paris

118 - 19th century French school after Antoine-Denis Chaudet (1763…
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Estimate €5,000 - €7,000
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Description
19th century French school after Antoine-Denis Chaudet (1763-1810) Paul and Virginie at the cradle Plaster model dating from 1795; cast by Soyer and Ingé around 1834 Bronze with green patina Minor wear to the patina, minor traces of oxidation Signed 'Chodet' on the drape falling from the right side of the cradle H. 24.5 cm - W. 28.9 cm - D. 17.4 cm AL-EJ Provenance: Probably the bronze exhibited in 1834 at the Exhibition of French Industrial Products sale of the works of Messrs Soyer and Ingé, 14, 15 and 16 October 1841, lot 45 Related works : - Antoine-Denis Chaudet (1763-1810), Paul et Virginie, 1801, plaster, 27 x 19.5 x 29.5 cm, Sèvres-Cité de la Céramique, n°inv.Casier 451 - Antoine-Denis Chaudet (1763-1810), Paul et Virginie au cerceau, 1802, marble, 22.5 x 29 x 18 cm, Paris, private collection. - Antoine-Denis Chaudet (1763-1810), Paul et Virginie, terracotta, mentioned in the sale after the death of Chevalier Ferréol Bonnemaison organised by Maitre Lacoste, from 8 to 16 April 1827, lot 193. - Jeanne-Élisabeth Chaudet (1767-1832), Enfant endormi dans un cerceau sous la garde d'un chien courageux qui vient de tuer près de lui une énorme vipère, 1801, oil on canvas, 114 x 134 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre, RF 706 . Related literature : -CP Landon, Précis historique des productions des arts, peinture, sculpture, architecture et gravure, tome 1, Paris, imprimerie Didot, 1801, p.27 and p.151, p.360; -C.P.Landon, Nouvelle des arts peintures, sculptures, architecture et gravure, tome second, Société des amis des arts, Paris, impremrie Migneret, an XI, 1802, p.84; - Journal des débats of 30 May 1834, Exposition des produits de l'industrie, pavilion no. 4; - Catalogue des bronzes d'art, de cabinet et d'ameublement, dont la vente aura lieu en vertu d'un Jugement du Tribunal de Commerce de Paris, rue des Jeuneurs , 16. le 20, 21, 22,23 et 24 juillet 1841par Me Debergue, avocat, commissaire-priseur rue Saint-Fiacre, 5, Paris, imprimerie Maulde et Renou, 1841, n°11, -Catalogue des modèles de pendules, candélabres, groupes, statuettes et objets divers dépendant de la fabrique de MM Soyer et Ingé, le 14, 15, 16 octobre, par Me Debergue, avocat, commissaire-priseur rue Saint-Fiacre, 5, Paris, imprimerie Maulde et Renou, 1841, n°45;-Ss dir. T. Préaud et G. Scherf, La Manufacture des Lumières. La sculpture à Sèvres de Louis XV à la Révolution, Cat.Exp. held from 16 September 2015 to 18 January 2016, édition Faton, 2016, n°259 p.273; -S. Deschamps-Tan and Come Fabre , Sage comme une image, L'enfance dans l'œil des artistes (1790-1850) , catalogue of the exhibition held at the Musée de Tessé, Le Mans, from 14 February to 8 June 2025, then in Bordeaux, at the MusBA, from 10 July to 3 November 2025, Paris, Lienart, 2025; cat.3 and cat.5 This rare bronze signed 'Chodet' illustrates a lesser-known aspect of the work of the celebrated neoclassical sculptor Antoine-Denis Chaudet. Acknowledged as one of Napoleon's sculptors of􀏐iciels and the creator of the imperial busts distributed throughout the Empire, here he reveals himself to be an artist of the intimate, creating a scene of great tenderness linked to his personal life. Entitled of􀏐iciellement Paul et Virginie au cerceau, the work depicts two naked sleeping children - a boy and a girl 􀏐illette - clasped together in a couf􀏐in wicker basket in a gesture of mutual love and protection. At the foot of couf􀏐in lies a dozing dog. This scene emanates a melancholy peace where innocence mingles with an almost funerary dimension. The title, borrowed from Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's famous novel (1788), which was very fashionable at the time, transforms a painfully personal scene into a universal symbol of the ideal childhood. Antoine-Denis and his wife, the painter Jeanne-Élisabeth Chaudet, lost their two 􀏐illettes in infancy: Amitié Sincère, born in 1794, and Jeanne-Élisabeth, who died a few days after her her birth. This unspeakable loss is reflected in the couple's work, which sublimates their grief into artistic creations in a fertile dialogue between sculpture and painting. The work is a direct echo of Jeanne-Élisabeth's painting exhibited at the Salon of 1801, Enfant endormi dans un cerceau sous la garde d'un chien courageux qui vient de tuer près de lui une énorme vipère. Where the painter introduces dramatic tension, danger and the inevitability of a tragic 􀏐in, the sculptor offers peace and eternity: the dog, reassured, has also fallen asleep. The 2025 exhibition Sage comme une image? brought together the original marble and Jeanne-Élisabeth's painting for the first time in decades, in a poignant face-off between two combined sensibilities faced with unspeakable personal grief. Presented in plaster at the Salon in 1795, Antoine-Denis Chaudet's model of Paul et Virginie was immediately commissioned in marble by the Société des amis des arts. This marble version was exhibited at the Salon in 1802, the same year as the plaster model of Chaudet's most famous work L'Amour ramassant un papillon (Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv.LL 56). Unlike L'Amour ramassant un papillon, which went through many successive editions in various materials in the 19th century, Paul et Virginie au cerceau is a much rarer work. The Manufacture de Sèvres has a plaster model registered, it seems, since 1801, To our knowledge, no biscuit edition has ever been launched. Three auction catalogues from the 1820s, notably that of the Feuchère Père collection on 19 January 1829, mention the dispersal of terracotta versions of this subject. Our posthumously published bronze may be a unique cast. Produced by by the prestigious firm of Soyer et Ingé around 1834, it is probably the example presented on this foundry's stand at the 1834 Exhibition of the Products of French Industry. This national event was designed to promote French manufacturing excellence. The Journal des débats dated 30 May 1834 reported: ''What distinguishes the bronzes of Messrs Soyé and Ingé, it is a certain grace mixed with vivacity which reigns in the majority of the small objects they have exhibited. The group of Paul and Virginie in the cradle, by Chaudet, and that of Mars and Venus, are cast works in which one feels that an artist's will prevailed". Following the bankruptcy of the factory, two auctions of the collection were organised a few months apart in July and October 1841 by Mr Debergue. Some lots that had gone unsold in July were found in the second sale in October. This could be the case for our work, mentioned in both catalogues with the same error in the spelling of the signature: "Paul et Virginie, par Chodet", lot 11 then lot 45.
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About the sale PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES - ASIAN ART - JEWELLERY - FURNITURE AND OBJETS D'ART
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Auction time 06/06/2026 at 2:30 PM
Lot description modified on 05/22/2026 at 11:30 AM
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