Théodore Rivière

THÉODORE RIVIÈRE (Toulouse, 1857 - Paris, 1912).
"Salammbô chez Mâtho, Je t'aime ! Je t'aime", c. 1895.
Bronze with nuanced greenish brown patina.
Presents marks of the caster Susse Frères Editeurs Paris.
Measurements: 63 x 37 x 27,5 cm.
The theme of the work comes from Gustave Flaubert's novel, Salambó, published in 1862. The story takes place between 241 and 238 B.C., during the war waged by Carthage against its rebellious mercenaries. The Libyan Matho, leader of the barbarian soldiers, is in love with Salambo, the daughter of his Carthaginian enemy Hamilcar Barca. Rivière has chosen the moment when, torn apart by the people, Matho dies at the feet of the beauty, crying, "I love you! I love you!". Salambó's femme fatale character inspired several other symbolist artists. The work achieved great popularity at the Salon of 1895, preserved in the Musée d'Orsay (Inv. RF 2521, LUX 131). Its fame reached such a degree that numerous copies were published in bronze.
Théodore Rivière was a French sculptor. He received traditional training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse and later at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Rivière began his career under the influence of Falguière and Mercié. Discouraged by his lack of success, he was drawn to travels that took him to North Africa, the Far East and South America. Travels revealed his artistic potential by providing him not only with new subjects of inspiration, sometimes taken from literature, but also with a personal and innovative style, whose emblematic work was Salammbô chez Mathô. Back in Paris, Rivière distinguished himself in small-format sculpture, which he also applied to nudes and full-length portraits of his contemporaries. He combined materials with a refined polychromy that contributed to the expression of his subject matter. He also collaborated with bronze and porcelain publishers. Rivière thus responded to the direction desired by the Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs and its inclination towards the theories of social art from 1900. Subsequently, he resumed his initial sculpture, adapting it to public monuments erected in Indochina and France, without, however, abandoning the decorative genre that had brought him success.