FRENCH SCHOOL of the second half of the 19th century... Lot 298

FRENCH SCHOOL of the second half of the 19th century after Antonio CANOVA (1757-1822). Hercules and Lichas. Proof in bronze with brown patina. Signed. H : 87,5 ; W : 52 ; D : 26 cm (wear and some scratches to the patina, no founder's stamp). Note : Model realized in 1796, marble completed in 1815. "Antonio Canova made a first wax sketch in 1795 and the full size plaster in 1796 of his famous group of Hercules and Lichas, at the request of Don Onorato Gaetani. Interrupted and resumed for many years, the work was finally executed in marble and completed in 1815. It was then placed in a room specially dedicated to it in the new palace of the Marquis Torlonia, its new owner. It was an immediate success and was immediately followed by bronze editions, the number and variants of which aroused the interest of the artist's specialists. The earliest editions made in France were executed from the small model brought to Paris that Quatremère de Quincy, a friend of the sculptor, mentioned in 1834: "We have in Paris the sketch of a foot high which was the first thought of this group and this sketch has aroused such an admiration that a large number of repetitions have been cast in bronze. These castings, which we owe to Ingé and Soyer and then Delafontaine, present the artist's first version in which Hercules holds Lichas by the belt of his garment and the mortal tunic of Nessus passes in a supple manner over the genitals of Hercules, held by a strap across his torso. Moreover, Quatremère de Quincy, a great promoter of the neoclassical master, encouraged "the European multiplication of his work by casting, engraving and casting". Our copy is inspired by the engravings of the final marble group circulating from 1811-1812. Hercules, in particular, catches Lichas naked by the hair. The inspiration of an engraving, therefore of a two-dimensional image masking the back of the work, explains the numerous iconographic differences between the original model and the bronze: the face of Lichas is much more feminine, the altar is simplified, without flame or garland of flowers, the position of the skin of the lion of Nemea is different. In the context of publishing for a bourgeois and respectful market, the nudity of both men has been hidden, that of Hercules by a band-like drape girdling his hips and that of Lichas by the tail of the Lion's skin rising in an astonishing upward movement." While the first editions were only about forty centimeters in size, we see with our large copy the trend during the nineteenth century to move away from the production of small bronzes and to make more monumental castings. Related works: - Giovanni Folo, after Antonio Canova, Hercules and Lichas, engraving, 1812, Department of Prints and Drawings. - Pietro Fontana, after Antonio Canova, Hercules and Lichas, engraving, 1811/12, Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris - Canova, Hercules and Lichas, bronze group with dark patina, cast in the first quarter of the 19th century, signed on the base, H. 87 cm, Ader sale, Tuesday, December 5, 1989, lot 18. Bibliography: - Mario Praz, "L'opera complete del Canova, Classici Dell'Arte Rizzoli," Rizzoli Editore, Milano, 1976, p.107 - Bernard Black, "Canova's lost model for Hercules and Lichas preserved in bronze. The definitive French casts, the copies and the confusions," in Apollo , no. 463, year 2000, pp. 13-21."