A Monumental Gilt-Bronze Sculptural Group Of ‘The Children Of Bacchus’

Description

A Monumental Gilt-Bronze Sculptural Group Of ‘The Children Of Bacchus’, On Pedestal.

Attributed to Albert-Ernest Carrier Belleuse (1824 –1887) and Christofle et Cie, Paris.

Modelled as a fruiting tree bearing three seated bacchantes nurturing three cherubic putti. Another putto is caught in the branches below. At the base of the tree there is a seated satyr, another reclines beside a discarded chalice and a third climbs the tree. The tree is encircled by branches of fruiting vine, and the canopy is filled with an abundance of fruits, including apples, oranges, pears, cherries and a pumpkin. At the centre there is a pineapple finial.

The sculpture is mounted on an ebonised oak pedestal adorned with gilt-bronze foliate garlands.

France, Circa 1850.

This monumental gilt-bronze group shows the children of Bacchus nurtured by bacchantes and protected by satyrs. It is a celebration of the cult of Bacchus, of winemaking and vegetation and, by extension, of hedonism and fertility.

Artistic interpretations of Bacchus and his world are as old as the myth itself, but the origins of sculptural depictions of the children of Bacchus, especially when accompanied by satyrs and bacchants, were popularly depicted in Renaissance art. The statue of Bacchus by Michelangelo comes to mind, as does Bernini’s group of a bacchanal, showing a faun teased by children.

‘Bacchanal: a faun teased by children’ by Gian Lorenzo Bernini et Pietro Bernini, circa 1616/17, marble, 132.4 cm. high (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Public Domain).

In 18th century France the myth of Bacchus was a popular subject in the Rococo paintings of Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) and his followers, namely, François Boucher (1703-1770). The bacchanalian theme of this centerpiece is a celebration of wine and feasting and befits a table centrepiece. It recalls the rococo designs for surtout de tables by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier.

Design for a Surtout de table by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, Circa 1742-1745 (Courtesy Getty Trust Open Content Program).

During the rococo period, the Greek myths were interpreted in a softer style. Bacchus is a figure of gentle drunken merriment, surrounding by impish satyrs, voluptuous nymphs and mischievous cherubs. Such putti were brought to life by many sculptors of the period and in every sculptural form, from the fountains of Versailles to table decorations made in Sèvres porcelain. However, the indisputable master sculptor of the bacchanal is Claude Michel, known as Clodion (1738 –1814).

Detail from ‘Pan poursuivant Syrinx sous le regard de l’Amour’ by Clodion, circa 1782, stone (Musée du Louvre / Public Domain).

Clodion put mythology at the service of debauchery, using terracotta to deftly shape with spiritual sensuality, light-hearted sculptures of satyrs, bacchantes and putti dancing and generally cavorting in drunken merriment. Clodion’s figures were also cast in bronze by Pierre Gouthière, as plaques in bas-relief for furniture and as figures for candelabra.

When the French Revolution dispersed his clientele, Clodion fell from fashion. Soon after his death, which coincided with the end of the imperial regime in 1814, his style was revived. His graceful figures found favour with the romantic school and Clodion became the single most influential French name in figurative sculpture in the 19th century. From the models he had provided during his lifetime, bronze editions were made. His graceful and charming figures were much imitated, and a considerable quantity of sculpture was produced ‘in the style of Clodion’.

‘Young Woman and Child at Play’, follower of Clodion, Circa 1780, terracotta (The Cleveland Museum of Art / Public Domain).

Clodion’s influence is most apparent in the work of Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824 –1887) whose first critical success was a rococo-inspired Bacchante (shown at the Salon of 1863), which Emperor Napoleon III purchased for the Tuileries Gardens. Carrier-Belleuse received many public commissions and was highly regarded by Napoleon III, who referred to him as ‘our Clodion’. By extension Clodion’s style richly informed Carrier-Belleuse’s pupils, including Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Auguste Rodin, Joseph Cheret, Mathurin Moreau and Aimé-Jules Dalou. Carrier-Belleuse’s students would work up his designs. Notably Auguste Rodin, who worked for Carrier-Belleuse in Paris for six years and thereafter in Brussels following the Paris Commune, is credited with Carrier-Belleuse’s statue of ‘Innocence Tormented By Love’ of which multiple examples are recorded in terracotta and bronze.

‘La Bacchante’ by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, 1863, marble, 180 cm. high (© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay / Public Domain)

Carrier-Belleuse was the most prolific and versatile sculptor of the 19th century. His output was vast, and his style varied. Dr. Anita Brookner called him a “manipulator of styles,” an epithet addressing Carrier-Belleuse’s versatility and fearless experimentation in the fine and decorative arts. He was a sculptor of portraiture and decoration, equally comfortable in hand-finishing delicate clay maquettes, as in designing monumental architectural stone entablatures. Working in plaster and marble, he mastered every medium. As a designer he is linked to every outlet of the decorative arts, in porcelain at Minton and Sèvres, in gold and silver for Christofle and in bronze and iron for Barbedienne, Val d’Osne, and every foundry in-between. His work defined Second Empire Paris, and his style is visible everywhere from his pediment representing abundance to the South façade of the Louvre, to his torchères flanking the staircase at the Opera Garnier, and the entire decoration of the Hôtel de la Païva. He was a sculptor first, in the fine art sense, and second, an architect and an ornamentalist, designing candelabra, clocks, jardinieres and all manner of ornaments small and large. Every monument and every object is adorned with figural ornament. Everywhere he uses cherubs and nymphs. The unifying style is neo-renaissance and for all the many statues that Carrier-Belleuse sculpted, across all their faces and figures, Clodion’s influence is always evident.

When dining as a guest of the legendary courtesan La Païva at her eponymous mansion, the brothers Jules and Edmond de Goncourt recorded, with more than a touch of jealousy, how their fellow guests admired the dining-room centrepiece by Carrier-Belleuse. It is said to have cost 80,000 francs and whilst others praised it, the Goncourt brothers called Carrier-Belleuse, “that banal sculptor, that 19th-century tinkerer, that copyist of Clodion” (Journal des Goncourt. Tome III (1866-1870), 30 May 1866, p. 155).

The centrepiece of the Ariadne surtout de table by Carrier-Belleuse, circa 1860, for the Hôtel de la Païva, Paris (Musée des Arts décoratifs / Public Domain).

The satyrs, bacchantes and putti to this magnificent centrepiece compare closely to Carrier-Belleuse’s repertoire of Clodion-like figures. Their faces and bodies are repeated throughout Carrier-Belleuse’s oeuvre. Specific examples include his ‘Allegory of Dance’, where a standing nymph plays a tambourine encircled by mischievous putti who dance around her (Museo del Prado, Madrid). The sensual depiction of the bacchante nursing a putto compares closely to various models by Carrier-Belleuse themed around maternity and specifically his groups ‘Venus disarming Cupid’ and ‘Between Two Loves’. The satyrs are familiar from his groups ‘Faun Abducting a Nymph’ and ‘Nymph and Satyr’. Such bacchic figures are unmistakably of Carrier-Belleuse’s oeuvre, and he reworked them throughout his career for numerous sculptural and ornamental compositions in terracotta, marble and bronze.

‘Allegory of Dance’ by Carrier-Belleuse, circa 1860, marble (Museo Del Prado, Madrid. Inventory No. E000828 / Public Domain).

This magnificent centrepiece has all the elements and hallmarks of Carrier-Belleuse’s work. His output was so considerable that it is not unprecedented for such a large commission as the present centrepiece to be a new discovery. The quality of the casting and chasing and the sheer scale of this centrepiece make it an important commission.

This group could have been conceived as a centrepiece for a dining table, as the focal point for a surtout de table. Given its monumental scale this is difficult to countenance, but not impossible when compared to massive centrepieces made during the Second Empire (1848-1870).

The silversmith and bronze maker Christofle produced several such table services of comparable scale and style, including for the Ministry of Agriculture (1853-1857) and as shown at the 1855 International Exhibition in Paris. Other centrepieces by Christofle are undocumented.

Surtout de Table for the Ministry of Agriculture, Christofle, gilt-bronze, 1853-57 (© Mobilier National).

Comparison can also be made to the bronze and silversmith Auguste Breul who supplied in 1850/51 a ‘New Table Service’ comprising many candelabra and centrepieces for Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria (1830-1916).

Gilt-Bronze centrepiece from an extensive surtout de table supplied by the French bronze maker Auguste Breul in 1850/51 to Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria (1830-1916) (Courtesy Schloss Schönbrunn / Public Domain).

This sculptural group entitled ‘The Children Of Bacchus’ is magnificent in scale and quality.

The pose and anatomy of the figures is remarkably lifelike and captured with great character. The voluptuous nymphs pamper the mischievous putti, plying them with grapes and wine. The viewer is left uncertain of the intentions of the satyrs, who are sworn to protect the children of Bacchus, and yet show an impish lechery as they lounge around or dare to reach up, as if grasping for the nymphs’ attention. The fruiting tree is exceptionally detailed and cast with technical precision. The interlocking branches and bountiful fruit are cast individually and the multiple pieces interlock in a complex engineered arrangement.

The figures themselves are sand cast in sections, their limbs joined with casting pins, and the whole retains its original gilding of exceptional quality.