Claude Michel dit Clodion

Second sale of the Prince de Conti, march 15th,  1779, lot 285

Salon 1773, n° 249

LITERATURE
A. Poulet, G. Scherf, Clodion 1738-1814, exh. cat. Louvre Museum, Paris, 1992, pp. 157-160, no. 23.

RELATED LITERATURE
D. Sutton, France in the Eighteenth Century, exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1968, no. 798, pl. CXXIX, fig. 87; J.J. Guiffrey, Inventaire après décès de Clodion (30 avril 1814), dans A.A.F., t. VI, Paris, 1912, p. 210-244).

The terra cotta relief is in very good condition overall with some minor surface dirt at several places consistent with age and handling. A few very minor chips to the edges of the draperies, and a few very fine hairline fissures to the surface due to firing of the terra cotta, in particular in the upper part of the background. The edges of the relief with some plaster fillings to fit into the frame.The gilt bronze frieze is set into the edges of the terra cotta relief and held with metal fixations. The later grey marble frames with some minor surface dirt, and a few lacks to the edges. Some minor oxydation to the gilt bronze mounts. Terracotta relief finely modelled and very crisp, in very good condition overall.
"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."

Clodion presented Le Sacrifice à l'Amour as a pair with La Marchande d'Amours under n°249 at the 1773 Salon, where they were bought by the Prince de Conti.
Le Sacrifice à l'Amour, a particularly rare and sought-after subject, was drawn by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin in the catalogue for the second Prince de Conti sale in 1779, where it appears as n° 285 (fig. 3). The works were clearly favourites of Clodion who owned himself two reliefs with the same motif in his own collection, as per the inventory taken after his death in 1814: "a terracotta bas-relief of Le Sacrifice à l'Amour, in a pair with La Marchande d'Amour" (cf.J.J. Guiffrey, op. cit. p. 229).

The Sacrifice to Love was a typical neoclassical motif but there is no specific source that the artist could have used as a model. The composition is Clodion's own invention, inspired by classical reliefs and paintings he may have seen in Italy and that were published in Le Pitture antiche d'Ercolano (t.IV,p.69), or by Abbé de Saint-Non's prints of classical works in his 1763 series Recueil des griffonis.
 
A priestess stands in the centre wearing loose robes, a veil held on her head by a laurel wreath, as she pours a libation from a patera onto the altar and lights a fire with a torch. Behind her, a vestal virgin in a classical stola with bare arms, her hair nicely arranged in a chignon, carries a pitcher on a tray. A third veiled woman crouches behind her, turning her back to us and holding a large vase. The winged cupid stands on a pedestal, one hand holding his bow and the other ready to pull an arrow from his quiver.

Virgil describes a similar scene in his Eclogue VIII: "Bring water, and with soft wool-fillet bind these altars round about, and burn thereon rich vervain and male frankincense, that I may strive with magic spells to turn astray my lover's saner senses". Perhaps this sacrificial scene can be interpreted as love's triumph over chastity, as Scherf suggested.

Le Sacrifice à l'Amour exists as a marble relief signed Clodion, which came from the La Live de La Briche collection, today in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (fig. 2). Our terracotta differs in a few details from the marble, in particular the more nervous modelling of the Vestal's loose robes, the relief that decorates the altar and the addition of some plants in the foreground. Today, there are three other known terracotta versions of Le Sacrifice à l'Amour. One is in the Brinsley Ford collection in London and came from Emile Strauss, 1929 (Sutton,op.cit.). Another is in the former Georges Wildenstein collection, and the third, signed Clodion, was offered by Sotheby's London on April 7^th, 1977, lot 295.