Georges Charles Coudray

GEORGES CHARLES COUDRAY (France, 1864 - 1932).
"Semiramis".
Sculpture in bronze, in various shades of ochre.
Signed by the artist and the founder "Société des bronzes de Paris".
Measurements: 71 cm. height.

Bronze titled "Semiramis", in allusion to a legendary queen of Babylon playing an oriental lyre. Finely chiseled and with a brown patina that enhances its contours, the work presents the sovereign absorbed in the musical execution. The details in the clothing and attributes give the figure an aura of nobility. The pose, imbued with grace and dignity, suggests her power and influence as a mythical figure. The work is characteristic of the style of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in the transition to Art Nouveau, where academicist detailing merges with an increasing freedom in the representation of forms and a penchant for exotic or historical subjects.

Born in Paris, the son of a cabinetmaker, Marie Georges Charles began his training as a sculptor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1884 under the supervision of Alexandre Falguière and later Gabriel Jules Thomas. He exhibited regularly at the Salon from 1883 to 1890 and then sporadically until 1903. Among his most characteristic works are "Aquila" (bronze, 1892), "Les Nénuphars" (terracotta bust, 1899) and, of course, his most famous work, "Tahoser," a model of a young Egyptian harpist inspired by Théophile Gautier's Roman de la Momie (plaster cast presented at the 1892 Salon). Coudray is also known as an orientalist.
Born in Paris, Coudray trained as a disciple of Thomas and Falguière, and exhibited his works at the Salon from 1883 to 1903. He specialized in statues, busts and medallions with portraits, often of oriental inspiration. Some of his most notable works are "Aquila", a bronze statuette from 1892; "Les Nénuphars", a terracotta bust from 1899; and "Iris", in marble, from 1902. However, his most celebrated and reproduced piece was a plaster sculpture entitled "Tahoser", inspired by the novel "Roman de la Momie" by Théophile Gautier, depicting an Egyptian woman playing the harp. This sculpture was exhibited at the 1892 Salon, and soon reproduced in bronze.