Lot 115
  • 115

ATTRIBUTED TO ETIENNE LE HONGRE (1628-1690), FRENCH, CIRCA 1685-1690, | Allegory of Air

Estimate
150,000 - 200,000 EUR
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Description

  • Allegory of Air
  • bronze, brown patina
  • 64,5 cm; 25 1/2 in.

Provenance

Formerly collection of Count of Pourtalès;
with Jacques Seligmann (1858-1923), place Vendôme, Paris;
acquired from the above by Humbert de Wendel (1876-1954), in the Wendel hotel, 10 rue de Clichy, Paris;
thence by family descent to the present owner.

Literature

RELATED LITERATURE
G. Bresc-Bautier, G. Scherf, Bronzes français de la Renaissance au Siècle des Lumières, Paris, 2009, pp. 249-247, no. 64 et pp. 404 - 407.
W. Holzhausen, 'Die Bronzen Augusts des Starken in Dresden', in Jahrbuch der preussischen Kunstsammlungen, t. 60, 1939, pp. 157-186;
F. Souchal, French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th centuries. The reign of Louis XIV, Oxford, 1981, pp. 320-321, no. 68;
Cabinet de l'amateur, exh. cat. Orangerie des Tuileries, février -avril, 1956, n° 205 (for the cast in the Feray collection).

Condition

The bronze is in overall good condition with a few casting flaws and wear to the patina at the high points in several places consistent with age and handling. There is a rectangular dent (ca.1cm) to her proper left elbow of the raised arm and another small knock behind her proper left shoulder. The arm has been cast separately with a joint visible to her proper left shoulder and to the junction between the drapery and her hand. There is a light scratch to her proper left cheek, and some wear to the patina to tip of the nose tip and chin. There is a fine square patch visible to her proper left thigh (ca 1cm). The lower end of the drapery (in the back) appears to have been cast separately with a casting joint barely visible. A few core pin holes visible to the bronze, one tiny one to the eagle, and another one in the drapery (ca. 5mm) where the plug is lost. A few very fine hairline fissures to the surface of the bronze at several places and around her right ankle. Several casting flaws to the terrace, in particular to the edges, some of which have fillings, with a small square plug visible to the lower edge in the front of the terrace.The bronze had been covered with a black wax which has been removed by a professionnel restorer. This is a high quality cast , precise in all details with regular brushing to her body and drapery, fine chiselling and punching to her hair and to the clouds of the terrace.
"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."

Catalogue Note

So far unpublished, this bronze is one of three existing examples of this model cast during the artist’s lifetime. The marble statue of Air, larger than life-size, was made by Etienne Le Hongre between 1680 and 1685, after a drawing by Charles Le Brun, as part of the Grande Commande: four groups and twenty-four individual statues destined to decorate the Parterre d’Eau at Versailles. Air was one of the statues in the Four Elements series, which was entrusted to several sculptors: Water to Pierre Le Gros the Elder, Fire to Nicolas Dossier and Earth to Benoît Massou. After a tour to Rome between 1653 and 1659, Etienne Le Hongre – a pupil of Jacques Sarrazin – was admitted in 1667 to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris, having presented his St Mary Magdalen as his morceau de reception. He became assistant professor and then professor of the Academy in 1670. From 1660 onwards, as the Sculpteur Ordinaire du Roi, he was involved in all the great building projects that were carried out during the reign of Louis XIV. He contributed to the decoration of the façade of the Louvre, sculpted several figures for the Château de Fontainebleau and had a hand in the decoration of the Porte Saint-Martin. At the end of his life, the Estates of Burgundy commissioned him to make a bronze equestrian monument of Louis XIV, intended for the Place Royale in Dijon. Reductions survive in Dijon, the Prado and in the Château de Versailles. 

Le Hongre devoted the last years of his career to the sculptures in the gardens of Versailles. The Grande Commande project was to include the Four Parts of the World, the Four Hours of the Day, the Four Seasons, the Four Elements, the Four Humours of Man and the Four Forms of Poetry. Under the direction of François Girardon, Le Hongre was responsible for Air, the River Seine and the River Marne, as well as the term figures of Vertumnus and Pomona. Air was well-received from the moment of its creation, receiving praise from the Marquis de Louvois, Superintendent of the King’s Buildings. The marble sculpture was distinguished from the three other statues by the high price paid to the artist.

Using as his reference Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia, published around 1555 – an important source of inspiration for the iconography of works at Versailles – Le Hongre followed Charles Le Brun’s drawing closely in his marble carving, while retaining a certain freedom. Le Brun’s drawing shows a chameleon lurking among the folds of the drapery, which can be seen in the marble, but not in the present bronze. According to an enduring legend that originated in Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, the chameleon is the only animal that can survive on nothing but air.

Air from the Maurice and Humbert de Wendel collection is an important discovery. The bronze is distinguished by the quality of the casting, the fine chasing and its prestigious provenance. The rather slender and delicate figure stands in a contrapposto pose, as though on a cloud, with an eagle at her left. With a graceful gesture, she lifts the veil wrapped around her form in order to cover her head.
Only two other versions from Le Hongre’s lifetime are known today: one in Dresden, (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, inv. no. H4 155/30) and another in a private collection, formerly in the Feray collection (sale in Paris, Drouot, 20 December 2006, lot 58). Another slightly smaller example (height 55.5 cm) can be considered a later casting (Musée Bonnat, Bayonne, inv. no. OAP658).
The Dresden bronze is mentioned in 1765 in the inventory of the collections of Frederick Augustus I (‘the Strong’) of Saxony, with the title Juno and the Eagle, followed by another bronze depicting Leda and the Swan by Corneille van Clève (1646-1732). The Feray bronze was also displayed with a Leda and the Swan, adding weight to the hypothesis that the two subjects formed a pair.