Auguste-Edme Suchetet French, 1854-1932

The sfumato-like surfaces of this statue are ideally suited to a depiction of Astarte, the lunar goddess who was the Phoenician predecessor of the Greek Aphrodite. As Queen of the Evening Star, she was the goddess of passionate love. The striking softness of the modelling and idealisation of the female form was ahead of its time and untypical of his oeuvre. Suchetet enjoyed considerable success in his lifetime but is almost forgotten now. He was made a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1895