A French bronze figure of Phryne

CAST FROM A MODEL BY JEAN ALEXANDRE-JOSEPH FALGUIERE, LAST QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

细节
A French bronze figure of Phryne
Cast from a model by Jean Alexandre-Joseph Falguiere, Last quarter 19th Century
On a circular spreading base decorated with a scarf, a palm leaf and and Greek inscribed title plaque and on a square plinth with toupie feet, unsigned
32½ in. (82.5 cm.) high

拍品专文

Phryne, an Athenian courtesan said to be the mistress of Praxiteles, was accused of impiety. The judges, however, refused to condemn her when her counsel made her remove her clothes to reveal her perfect beauty.

Falguière was commissioned by the art dealer and fondeur Jean Goupil, father-in-law of Gérôme, to model the central figure of the latter's painting Phryne before the Areopagus, exhibited at the Salon in 1861. The work was also executed in marble and ivory and, as with the present bronze, examples are invariably unsigned. See Christie's Amsterdam, 15 May, 1983, lot 575, for a cast by the Goupil foundry, signed by Falguière.