Alfred Boucher

Overall the condition is excellent and ready to install. Three fingers of the proper left hand may have been reattached. There is some wear to fingers and toes. There are a few very minor chips to the edges of the bed. There are a few naturally occuring and stable veins in the marble, for example visible at the knees and above the right hip.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Alfred Boucher came from a modest family background, the son of a gardener and a cook who worked for the sculptor Marius Ramus. Aged nineteen he attended the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, where he trained under Paul Dubois (1829-1905) . Due to the generosity of his master, he studied ancient and renaissance art in Italy. His time in Rome defined him as a sculptor. In 1891 one critic commented, 'there is ancient in him, there is Michelangelo in him.' Boucher went on to win the Grand Prix at the Paris Salon in 1881 and 1900 and, aside from being a successful portraitist, is chiefly remembered for his high relief sculptures of beautiful female forms emerging out of rough-hewn marbles.

Le Repos is distinct from many of Boucher's sculptures of ideal young women in its hyper realism. Rather than having the figure emerge from rough hewn marble, Boucher places the young girl on a bed, the surface of which is finished to a similarly high degree as the skin of the figure. As in Prosper d'Épinay's Marion (lot. 80), the figure's pose, with her legs overlapping and her arms stretched across the pillow recalls the Borghese Hermaphrodite. However, here Boucher has reversed the pose so that, rather than lying on her stomach with her head twisted to the proper right as in the antique marble, the figure lies on her back, her arms lifted above her head, thereby completely revealing her body. Le Repos consequently presents a highly eroticised nude, but one that evokes a sense of reverie, with the figure seemingly lost in a deep slumber. With its emphasis on the inner world of the sleeping girl, Le Repos compares with two of Boucher's most evocative sculptures, Volubilis, with her demure downcast eyes, and a nude sold in these rooms on 25^th November 2009, in which a young woman in a dream-like state emerges from the rough-hewn marble block.

The present marble exhibits carving of an exceptionally high standard, even within the artist's own oeuvre. The play between the glistening surfaces of the skin and the virtuoso folds of the pillow epitomises Boucher's skill at manipulating marble, whilst the carefully delineated hands and feet testify to the sculptor's masterful grasp of anatomy.

RELATED LITERATURE
F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique. The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, New Haven and London, 1981, pp. 234-6