Prosper d' Epinay French, 1836 - 1914

Henri Jadart, Jeanne d'Arc à Reims, ses relation avec Reims, ses lettres aux rémois, Paris, 1887, p. 13
Benjamin Duprat, L'intermédiaire des chercheurs et curieux, Paris, 1903, p. 418

The present lot is cast after the celebrated lifesize sculpture of Jeanne d'Arc currently in the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reims. D'Epinay presented the model at the Paris salon of 1901. The sculpture was placed at Reims in 1909. The mixed media original is composed of a body carved in jaune de Sienne marble with lapis lazuli highlights, an armor of silver bronze and a face of ivory.

Prosper d’Épinay was born to aristocratic parents who emigrated from France to the island of Mauritius, then governed by England. His strong connection to England is reflected in his consistent participation at the Royal Academy from 1865 to 1881.  Although trained and educated in France, Prosper d’Épinay also maintained a studio in Rome (1864 -1912), where he became a close friend of Mario Fortuny and Henri Regnault, and helped the young Falguière. His career as a society portraitist was fostered by the Princess of Wales and Czar Alexander III.