Bronze by Alexandre Falguière

Alexandre Falguière (1831-1900)
according to Jean-Léon Gérôme
Phryne
Model created in 1868, produced by Goupil & Cie from 1868 to 1897
Bears the publisher's mark
"GOUPIL & CIE Publishers"
H:38.5 cm In 1868, at the request of the publisher Goupil & Cie, Alexandre Falguière took up the figure of Phryne before the Areopagus by Jean-Léon Gérome presented at the Salon of 1861.
Bears the publisher's mark "GOUPIL & CIE Editeurs"
Height 38.5 cm
Original rotating base: 8cm
Alexandre Falguière, 1831 Toulouse - 1900 Paris. PHRYNE. Height: 38.5 cm. Signed on the plinth and on the edge "Goupil & Cie Editeurs" and numbered 355. Cast bronze, patinated. On a tall, round plinth, the female nude stands in contrapposto, arms raised and head inclined. The idea of transposing Jean-Léon Gérôme's painting "Phryne Before the Areopagus" into a sculptural form arose as early as the 1860s, even before the artist himself began sculpting in 1878. Adolphe Goupil, Gérôme's brother-in-law and publisher, commissioned the sculptor Alexandre Falguière to create the work. In addition to the painting, studies and photographs of the nude model Marie-Christine Leroux served as models. The painting depicted the famous courtesan Phryne during her trial in ancient Athens. When her defender undresses her at the crucial moment, her beauty so impresses the judges that they refrain from condemning her. Gérôme's depiction, presented at the Paris Salon in 1861, caused a sensation: Phryne, naked but defending herself with modesty, was criticized for both its realism and its modernity—even Émile Zola expressed irritation. The sculpture, on the other hand, abandons moral suspense and emphasizes only the idealized beauty of the figure—entirely in keeping with the spirit of classical nude art. Literature: Cf. Laurence des Cars, Dominique de Font-Rélaux, and Édouard Papet (eds.), The Spectacular Art of Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904), exhibition cat., The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2010, pp. 104–109, no. 47. (1450565) (13)