Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux

The Rieur napolitan was modelled by Carpeaux in 1863 and is a testament to his studies in Italy at the Villa Medici. The model relates to the Jeune Pêcheur à la Coquille which was debuted at the 1858 Salon. The latter was seen as a masterful synthesis of contemporary and Renaissance influences: contemporary in its homage to Carpeaux's master, Franços Rude, whose Jeune Pêcheur à la Tortue was the yardstick by which his work was to be compared and Renaissance in its reflection of the influence of Donatello and Michelangelo whose oeuvres he studied during his sojourn at the Villa Medici.

The present model was executed in marble by the artist and reproduced in marble by the atelier during his lifetime. Five marbles were sold in the Ventes Carpeaux between 1873 and 1874. This beautiful marble was almost certainly made in the atelier in Carpeaux's lifetime. It is a finely carved period example of the model.

RELATED LITERATURE

M. Poletti and A. Richarme, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux sculpteur: Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre édité, Paris, 2003, p. 145, no. BU 43