Francisque Duret (1804-1865) Grape picker improvising... Lot 13

Francisque Duret (1804-1865) Grape picker improvising on a comic subject (Naples souvenir) Bronze with light brown patina Signed "F Duret" on the tank Bears the "A.D Delafontaine" foundry stamp on the back of the base. H. 45 cm Related work : François-Joseph dit Francisque DURET, Auguste-Maximilien DELAFONTAINE (active between 1840 and 1884), Vendangeur improvisant sur un sujet comique (Souvenir de Naples), 1850-1855, Bronze, sand casting, H.: 1.67 m.; L.: 0.75 m.; Pr.: 0.54 m, Paris, Musée du Louvre, n°inv. RF 172. François-Joseph Duret, known as Francisque Duret, was inspired by Antiquity to create the Young Fisherman dancing the Tarantella and the Young Dancer improvising on a comic subject. He finds more precisely in the ancient sculptures of dancing fauns, a starting point allowing him to create more anecdotal subjects whose success was great under the July Monarchy. François Rude inaugurated this vogue at the 1829 salon where he presented the plaster model of the Neapolitan Fisherman playing with a turtle. The work caused a sensation and he presented the definitive marble version at the 1833 Salon where Duret exhibited his Young Fisherman dancing the Tarantella. A real taste for anecdote develops in these years under the impulse of Madame de Staël's novel, Corinne ou l'Italie. Romantic artists see these popular Italian figures as the last remnants of an innocence that was soon lost and a way to bring a new freshness to sculpture. The subjects are playful and popular; underpants, headdresses and medals situate the work in a joyful and laughing Naples. Sometimes the subject is précis : here the young fisherman performs a dance that soothes the tarantula stings. The success is great and Duret will continue in this way. A few years later, in 1838, he exhibited Vendangeur improvising on a comic subject (memory of Naples) and chose to exhibit at the 1855 Universal Exhibition these picturesq