Charles-Antoine Bridan

This charming pair of marbles follows models by the French sculptor Charles-Antoine Bridan. It appears that the Boy playing with a bird was conceived prior to its pendant, the Girl weeping over an empty bird's nest. The girl's weeping can be explained by the fact that the little boy has stolen the bird from her nest. Bridan's prime versions in marble were executed for Cardinal de Luynes in 1759. A pair of terracotta versions from the sculptor's studio are in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Chartres, while 18th-century bronze and marble reproductions were produced by Righetti and Carlo Albacini respectively. The present marbles display particularly fine carving and surface treatment. While single figures after Bridan's marbles appear frequently on the market, they are more rarely seen as a pair.

RELATED LITERATURE
A. Laing, 'A Bird in the Hand...' in A. Gonzalez-Palacios (ed.) Antologia di Belle Arti: La Scultura II, Turin, 1996, pp. 154-165