Galerie Franck Baptiste
7 quai Voltaire
75007 Paris
FRANCE
Tél. +33 (0)6 45 88 53 58
Monday to Saturday
10h - 13h & 14h - 18h30
- FR
- EN
Works of Art
19th century
1
Works of Art du 19th century
The kidnapping of Déjanire by Nessus, France circa 1840
DIMENSIONS : H. 22.44 .in
PRICE : Contact us
REQUEST INFORMATION
?Rare bronze sculpture representing the kidnapping of Dejanire by the centaur Nessus.
The subject of our bronze is inspired by book No. IX of Ovid's Metamorphoses, at the moment when to cross a river, Hercules entrusts Deianira to the centaur Nessus who, seduced by the beauty of the young woman, takes the opportunity to kidnap her.
The scene is taken from life and represents the kidnapping, with the rearing centaur tearing Deianira from the ground.
He literally carries Dejanire's body under his right arm.
Very surprised and unbalanced, she waves her arms in the air and looks at the ground terrified while half of her body hangs in the air.
Slightly bronzed medal patina, good quality of casting and carving.
Rectangular base in blackened wood.
French school around 1840-1850.
Dimensions:
Bronze: Height: 41 cm; Width: 37 cm
Base: Width: 39.5 cm; Depth: 20.5 cm
Our bronze is a variant created by Antonio Susini (called type B by the artist's specialists) of a bronze by John of Bologna. On this model Dejanire is no longer seated on the centaur's back but carried by him on the side.
An original copy attributed to Susini is kept at the Louvre Museum (Inv. number OA 9520).
It bears number 175 in the inventory of crown bronzes and comes from a donation made by André le Nôtre to King Louis XIV. It is probably this example which served as the master model for French fonts of the 17th and 18th century.
The museum also keeps one of these fonts made in France in the 17th century under the inventory number: OA 3891.
A version of this type B model was present in the collection of Cardinal Richelieu at the time of his death in 1643 and another in the collection of the sculptor François Girardon in 1710.
Bibliography:
-The bronzes of the crown, catalog of the exhibition at the Musée du Louvre Paris, from April 12 to July 12, 1999.
- Charles Avery and Anthony Radcliff, "Giambologna 1529-1608: Sculptor to the Medici"
