Albert Ernest CARRIER-BELLEUSE (1824-1887) Portrait... Lot 576

Albert Ernest CARRIER-BELLEUSE (1824-1887) Portrait of a woman Bust in patinated terracotta Signed on the back A CARRIER. Small accidents and misses, restorations Total height 70 cm of which blackened wooden pedestal H. 16 cm Beginning in the 1860s, Carrier-Belleuse multiplied the number of fantasy busts, frequently using women from the theatre world as models. As a virtuoso modeler, he specialized in these spectacular busts and perpetuated the legacy of Houdon and the French art of portraiture. Carrier, by virtue of his training as a goldsmith, is particularly at ease here in the play of contrasts between the freshness of the skin tones and the profusion of additions, through the technique known as "pastillage", of pearls, flowers or lace, which fits perfectly with the rococo atmosphere of these early years of the Empire.