Eugène Delaplanche French, 1836-1891

Delaplanche was a pupil of Duret and entered the École des Beaux Arts in  1852. He won the Prix de Rome in 1864 and had a successful Salon career, inspired above all by the female form. In a letter to his contemporary Dalou in 1879 he wrote: "Je cherche  des esquisses avec un modèle de femme, bien entendu, je ne coupe pas dans l'autre sexe."

His voluptuous interpretation of the remorseful Eve after the fall was a huge Salon success. The frowning Eve hides her face behind her arm, her left hand desperately clutching her hair. The spiraling contorted pose adds to the emotional tension whilst displaying to best advantage Delaplanche's mastery over the female form. A marble version was exhibited at the Salon in 1870 and purchased by the state for over 5,000 francs. For many years it stood in the Jardin des Tuileries, and is now in the Musée D'Orsay. Following the theme of Eve, Delaplanche later produced a marble statue of Ève avant le péché (Eve before the Fall) where the nude seated Eve contemplates the as-yet-untouched apple in her hand. Exhibited posthumously at the Salon of 1891, this is also now in the collection of the Musée D'Orsay.

RELATED LITERATURE
Lami, vol. II, pp. 143-49; Catalogue de la Musée D'Orsay, pp.138-40; La Sculpture Français au XIXe Siecle