Jean-Baptiste CARPEAUX (1827-1875) Hope. White... Lot 109

Jean-Baptiste CARPEAUX (1827-1875) Hope. White marble sculpture signed and dated JBte Carpeaux 1873 on the right side. (Patina, soiling on the marble, small chips on the back of the sculpture in the hair). H.: 55.8 cm. L.: 33 cm. D.: 28 cm. The model we present corresponds to the third and final version, with Hope wearing her hair in long curls and wearing a crown of lilies. A sale at Hôtel Drouot on May 23, 1874, featuring a collection of Carpeaux's terracottas, marbles and bronzes, mentions a marble bust of l'Espérance (lot 49), but with slightly different dimensions. The Carpeaux sales of 1872 to 1874 list six marble examples, including a sculpture dating from 1869, which appeared in the Carpeaux sale of 1873; another, also dating from 1873, from the Fabius collection, was sold in Paris on October 26, 2011 (Sotheby's, lot 227). The original plaster cast is now in the Glyptotheque in Copenhagen, and the cast is part of the collections of the Musée du Second Empire in Compiègne. L'Espérance was made in terracotta and carved in marble, mainly during the artist's lifetime, and does not appear to have been produced in bronze. Bibliography: - A.Richarme, M.Poletti, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux Sculpteur - Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre published by Les éditions de l'amateur, Paris, 2003 (ill. page 128 ff.).