19th & 20th Century European Sculpture

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Lot 39
  • 39

Marius-Jean-Antonin Mercié French, 1845-1916

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Description

  • Marius-Jean-Antonin Mercié
  • David après le combat (David after the battle)
  • signed: A. Mercié and inscribed: F. BARBEDIENNE. Fondeur. Paris and with the Achille Collas pastille
  • bronze, dark brown patina

Catalogue Note

Mercié's David Après le Combat was modelled during his sojourn in Rome at the French Academy and was undoubtedly an extremely bold statement which begged comparison with seminal works of the Renaissance by Verrocchio, Donatello and Michelangelo. Mercié's youthful hero, however, could never be mistaken for a Renaissance work, with its effete charm and overtones of orientalism. It was exhibited at the Salon of 1872.

RELATED LITERATURE
Romantics to Rodin, pp.303-4, no.166