Jean Del Cour (Hamoir 1627- 1707 Liège), an exceptional... Lot n° 725

Jean Del Cour (Hamoir 1627- 1707 Liège), an exceptional terracotta preparatory sketch (bozzetto) of Saint James the Less, circa 1690 - 1691, H 46 cm. Jean Del Cour (Hamoir 1627- 1707 Liège), an exceptional terracotta preparatory sketch (bozzetto) of Saint James the Less, circa 1690 - 1691, H 46 cm. The barefooted Saint raises his head and arms towards God and stands his right foot upon an open book. The emotionally agitated yet graceful drapery that characterizes the oeuvre of this important Baroque master clearly shows the influence of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who during his Rome travels and studies in 1664 was a tutor at the prestigious school of l’Accademia di San Luca in Rome. The work is one of two known terracotta preliminary studies for the imposing and dramatic wood sculpture of Saint James the Less made by Jean Del Cour for the church of Saint-Jacques-le-Mineur in Liège, and thus unique. The other known study was recently sold by Sotheby's (29.01.2021 - The Collection of Hester Diamond Part I - lot 119). The Benedictine monks of the church of Saint-Jacques-le-Mineur in Liège consigned Del Cour in 1682 to execute a series of eight wooden sculptures polychrome painted in a Carrara marble imitation. He created six monumental Saint figures remaining in situ: James the Less, James the Greater, Benedict, Hubert, Henry, and Scholastica. The most important of the lot, and one of the artist's greatest masterpieces, is the church’s patron Saint, James the Less, which he created between 1690 - 1691. Jean Del Cour got his first lessons in sculpture from the Carthusian monk Arnold Henrand, started his own Liège workshop in 1657, and is one of the most important and influential sculptors of the 17th century Southern Netherlands. An important part of his work was commissioned by the Prince-Bishopric clergy of Liège. Most of the terracottas by Del Cour can be found today in museums in Liège, the majority in the Musée Curtius collection. The work was mentioned and illustrated in: René Lesuisse, 'Le Sculpteur Jean del Cour’, Couillet 1953, p. 118 - 125. It was also part of the ‘Del Cour’ exhibition in Liège, 1909, catalogue p. 23, N° 18. Provenance: former collection René van Bastelaer, Brussels.