French, 19th century

Sotheby's London, 13 December 2000, lot 120;

Private Collection, Sweden, until 2019

This unusually large bronze shows a beautiful, Rubensian-bodied nymph lying in reverie. Resting on her side, she sprawls on a cloth draped over a rock. 

The subject of a sleeping nymph derives from an antique statue of a reclining female figure, excavated in 1512 in Rome and installed as part of a fountain in the Belvedere statue court at the Vatican. Initially identified as Cleopatra, but now accepted to represent Ariadne, it was known as the Cleopatra Fountain and its image widely disseminated through prints.

It is likely that the sculptor of the present bronze was inspired by 17th-century French depictions of reclining female nudes. In particular, the composition relates to a Reclining Venus by François Girardon (1628-1715) after a terracotta model attributed to Thibault Poissant (1605-1668).

RELATED LITERATURE:

P. Wengraf, Renaissance & Baroque Bronzes from the Hill Collection, London, 2014, pp. 314-323, no. 32