French school of the end of the XVIIth century, follower of Philippe de Buyster (1595-1688)
Allegory of summer or Ceres
High relief in marble
Dated "1683" on the back at the lower edge of the drape
Total height: approx. 162 cm (head height: 26 cm and body height: 136 cm)
Damage and missing parts, head disassembled and cleaned
Our goddess of agriculture and harvest, Ceres, recognizable by her sheaf of wheat, is similar in her plump and opulent physiognomy, her heavy and angular drapery, as well as her theme of the Allegory of the Seasons, to the production of the artist of Antwerp origin, Philippe de Buyster.
If the body canon is really very close, the style of the small head, however, deviates from it. The work bears the date 1683 on the reverse. Although at that time Philippe de Buyster, still active at the age of 88, was carrying out work at the Château de Versailles and working on his own funeral monument and the decoration of the high altar of the Chapel of Notre-Dame de Lorette, it is very likely that the sculpture was made by a sculptor of his entourage.
Bibliography :
- Pierre Chaleix, Philippe de Buyster sculpteur 1595-1688, Paris, Editions A et J Picard et Cie, 1967, Plates IV and V.
- Françoise de la Moureyre, Philippe de Buyster (1595-1688), in La Tribune de l'Art, October 25, 2007, (online).
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