Nymph with Cupids
Statuette
1780s (made)
1780s (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Claude Michel, known as Clodion, was French but lived in Rome between 1762 and 1771. There he studied classical Roman sculpture, as well as the work of Michelangelo and Bernini. He was famous for small-scale terracotta groups, often made for private collectors.
Clodion's broadly classical style is evident in this group of a nymph surrounded by four little cupids, one of which crowns her with a wreath of laurel. This group has echoes of Clodion's simpler terracottas of an adult carrying a child on a shoulder (examples are in the Fogg Museum, Massachusetts; and Ottawa National Gallery of Canada). Here he is more ambitious, including four small cupids in his composition. Putti and cupids feature in a large number of reliefs and other small-scale freestanding statuettes by Clodion and they are generally, as here, a subsidiary element alongside the main subject.
Clodion's broadly classical style is evident in this group of a nymph surrounded by four little cupids, one of which crowns her with a wreath of laurel. This group has echoes of Clodion's simpler terracottas of an adult carrying a child on a shoulder (examples are in the Fogg Museum, Massachusetts; and Ottawa National Gallery of Canada). Here he is more ambitious, including four small cupids in his composition. Putti and cupids feature in a large number of reliefs and other small-scale freestanding statuettes by Clodion and they are generally, as here, a subsidiary element alongside the main subject.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Nymph with Cupids (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Terracotta |
| Brief description | Statuette, terracotta, of a Bacchante with children, by Clodion, French, 1780s |
| Physical description | Terracotta group of a female figure (nymph) with winged children (cupids). The nymph is moving forward with her right foot advanced and left raised from the ground. Against her right shoulder she holds a cupid who crowns her with its left arm holding a laurel wreath above her head. Three other cupids surround her. One emerges from between her legs and the other two, facing her, are adjacent to her right leg. These two hold a garland and appear to be supported by a cloud. The upper of the two is almost upright, but the lower one falls backwards. The nymph wears classical-style clothing consisting of a tunic, stopping just above the waist and swirling out slightly to her left; worn over a floor-length robe, split open above the right knee leaving the lower leg exposed. Drapery falls over her right shoulder. Two of the cupids wear circlets of flowers. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | 'CLODION' (Signed on the back, above the base. The N reversed as customary.) |
| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Given by Dr W. L. Hildburgh FSA |
| Object history | This may well be the group described by S. Lami (p. 156) in his list of works by Clodion: "Jeune nymph entourée d'amours; l'un d'eaux lui pose une couronne de lauriers sur la tête. Group en terre cuite. Signé. Haut. 0m47. Vende 3,400 francs dans une vente anonyme, le 11 avril 1881". Acquired by the donor, Dr Hildburgh, from Sotheby's at sale of 8th July 1949 (lot 21: property of the late Sir Bernard Eckstein Bart) for £10. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Claude Michel, known as Clodion, was French but lived in Rome between 1762 and 1771. There he studied classical Roman sculpture, as well as the work of Michelangelo and Bernini. He was famous for small-scale terracotta groups, often made for private collectors. Clodion's broadly classical style is evident in this group of a nymph surrounded by four little cupids, one of which crowns her with a wreath of laurel. This group has echoes of Clodion's simpler terracottas of an adult carrying a child on a shoulder (examples are in the Fogg Museum, Massachusetts; and Ottawa National Gallery of Canada). Here he is more ambitious, including four small cupids in his composition. Putti and cupids feature in a large number of reliefs and other small-scale freestanding statuettes by Clodion and they are generally, as here, a subsidiary element alongside the main subject. |
| Bibliographic reference | Poulet, Anne L. and Scherf, Guilhem, Clodion: 1738-1814. exhibition catalogue, Paris (Louvre), 1992, p. 434, fig. 256 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | A.53-1951 |
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| Record created | March 8, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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