MATERNITY. BRONZE. FRANCE, CIRCA LATE 19TH CENTURY. PAUL DUBOIS.

Maternity. Bronze. France, towards the end of the 19th century, PAUL DUBOIS, Paul (Nogent-sur-Seine, 1829-Paris, 1905). With inscriptions, signature and foundry seal (A. Collas). Bronze sculpture with a simple base with inscriptions and on which a humbly dressed female figure sits, looking down at the two children she is cradling in her arms. These, naked, one is asleep and the other is breastfeeding. On the rocky area where the woman sits, one can read “P. Dubois”. Paul Dubois was a French sculptor and painter who enjoyed great recognition for the elegance and delicacy of his works, so appreciated that they were widely distributed by important publishers. He trained at the École natinale supérieure des beaux-arts and went to Rome. His work was recognized with awards (Medal at the Paris Salon of 1863, Medal of Honor at the 1865 Salon, etc.) and with important positions (Director of the National School of Fine Arts, Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, etc.). His work can be seen in prominent private collections and in institutions such as the Musée Faure (Aix-les-Bains, France), Petit Palais (Paris), Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of New York (United States of America), etc. This sculpture, in particular, is inspired, in a much smaller size, by the bronze sculpture of Charity (work of Paul Dubois) from the cenotaph of General La Moricière (Louis Juchault de Lamoricière, 1806-1865), installed and inaugurated in 1879 in the Cathedral of Nantes (France). At the base there is a foundry stamp (“Reduction Mecanique Brevete/ A. Collas”). Achille Collas (Paris, 1795-1859) was a French engineer, engraver and illustrator known for his works and for being the inventor of a procedure for reproducing and reducing (in size) sculptures that became very well known and appreciated since he presented it at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1855. On the front you can read “À Madame Nivromont / 1882-1892”. On the side it appears “F. Barbedienne, Fondeur, Paris”. Ferdinand Barbedienne (L´Oudon, 1810-Paris, 1892) was a French cabinetmaker and bronze worker, considered one of the leading artists of the Second Empire. In 1839 he partnered with the aforementioned Achille Collas to set up a bronze factory specialising in small sculptures (also furniture and silver pieces, all in various styles), which came to have three hundred workers. Weight 15 kg.

· Size: 16x22x49cms