Charles-Henri-Joseph Cordier French, 1827-1905

'A superb Sudanese turned up at the studio. Within a fortnight I did his bust and sent it to the Salon, feeling quite sure that it would be accepted. Just then the Revolution of 1848 burst out, and the jury was democratically elected. Trembling, I got up my nerve to send in the Sudanese bust anyway, and it was a revelation to the art world. Standing in front of it, Pradier said: "Who did this? Here is a fellow who will be a sculptor!" My teacher [François Rude], who was a member of the jury, stepped forward and said: " My student, Charles Cordier." Some people turned away but this did not interfere with success. Indeed I won an honourable mention.'

This was how Cordier remembered the exhibition of Saïd Abdallah's bust in his memoirs. Cordier re-exhibited the bust at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, where he paired it with a new bust, the Négresse des côtes d'Afrique, also known as La Vénus Africaine. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert both much admired them. Secretly they planned to buy the busts for each other as Christmas presents. An embarassing scene was averted, Cordier recalls, by a bright 'dame du Palais' who tipped off the Prince. The casts bought by the Queen are now at Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight.

Another pair of casts of this model are in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

RELATED LITERATURE
Charles Cordier 1827-1905, cat nos. 470-521; Durand-Revillon