AFTER CHARLES-AUGUSTE FRAIKIN | L'AMOUR CAPTIF (CUPID HELD CAPTIVE)

Charles-Auguste Fraikin studied at the Brussels Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts under Louis Jéhotte, and was one of the most successful sculptors in mid 19th-century Belgium. His sculptures, which embody a warm, sentimental blend of classicism, and look back to the Rococo terracottas of Clodion, were particularly favoured by the Belgian bourgeoisie.

L'amour Captif was Fraikin's definitive masterpiece, and propelled him into fame when he exhibited it at the Exposition Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Brussels in 1845, winning a gold medal. It was subsequently exhibited in London (1851) and Dublin (1853), and a copy was ordered for the Hermitage in St Petersburg. Another version of the marble was commissioned for the collection of the Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in 1849 (inv. no. 1052).

For its composition, Fraikin was inspired by Jean Joseph Foucou (1739-1815), whose Bacchante portant un petit faune is in the collection of the Musée Cognac-Jay in Paris (inv. no. J219, op. cit., p. 175). Comparison between the two marbles shows clearly how Fraikin was indebted to the earlier Neoclassicism of the late 18th century, but interpreted it with a graceful and romantic touch, creating the lissom and seemingly weightless figure of Venus. The Cupid in the present marble owes much to the putti of the Flemish Rococo tradition, with its stout figure and sprawled pose.

Due to its popularity, Fraikin's L'Amour was copied in various sizes during the 19th and early 20th centuries, including by sculptors in the large marble workshops of Carrara. The present marble appears to be a rarer full-size version. 

RELATED LITERATURE

J. van Lennep, Catalogue de la Sculpture, Artistes nés entre 1750 et 1882, cat. Musées royaux des Beaux Arts de Belgique, Brussels, 1992, p. 175