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Lot Essay
The present figure of Flora is related to the sculptor's relief for the Southern facade of the Louvre, The Pavillon de Flore, which was commissioned by Napoleon III in 1863.
In sculpting this freestanding figure, Carpeaux borrowed the pose from the Antique figure of Crouching Venus, with the right arm raised over the head. The face is that of Anna Foucart, the daughter of Carpeaux's boyhood friend and a girl whose features the sculptor used throughout his career.
The full size marble version (1873) was commissioned by Carpeaux's English patron Mr. Turner and is now in the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon. The original plaster model of 1870 is in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum, Copenhagen. The Carpeaux atelier authorized editions in terracotta, bronze and marble.
In sculpting this freestanding figure, Carpeaux borrowed the pose from the Antique figure of Crouching Venus, with the right arm raised over the head. The face is that of Anna Foucart, the daughter of Carpeaux's boyhood friend and a girl whose features the sculptor used throughout his career.
The full size marble version (1873) was commissioned by Carpeaux's English patron Mr. Turner and is now in the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon. The original plaster model of 1870 is in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum, Copenhagen. The Carpeaux atelier authorized editions in terracotta, bronze and marble.