Albert Carrier Belleuse

ALBERT CARRIER BELLEUSE (France, 1824-1887).
"Caress of love".
Bronze with brown patina.
Inscribed on a frontal plate "Caresse de l'Amour par Carrier-Belleuse (Hors Concours).
Has bronze swivel base and original marble base.
Signed on the back "A. Carrier-Belleuse" on the back.
Measurements: 98 x 35 x 30 cm.
Work of great formal and expressive refinement, made in patinated bronze on a veined marble base, which adds a classic and solemn character to the whole. It represents a deeply human scene: a female figure, half-naked and wrapped in a delicate drapery, holds up an infant with an expression of exalted tenderness. The gesture is dynamic and ascending, with the lines of the body flowing in an elegant spiral that guides the viewer's gaze from the base upwards, in the direction of the child. The female figure, probably an allegory of motherhood or a mythological representation, possibly Venus with Cupid, although without explicit attributes, is in a graceful pose, with one leg slightly forward, giving her a subtle contraposto. The anatomical treatment is idealized, with soft forms and harmonious proportions, typical of 19th century academicism. The expression of the face, raised towards the child, denotes an emotional devotion that contrasts with the classical serenity of the body.
Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887) was one of the most prolific and renowned sculptors of the 19th century, achieving great success during the Second Empire thanks to the personal support of Napoleon III. He began his artistic training in 1837 in the workshop of the chiseler Bauchery, and soon after entered the workshop of the goldsmith Jacques Henri Fauconnier. Thanks to the mediation of François Arago, he met the famous sculptor David d'Angers, who facilitated his admission to the École des Beaux-Arts in 1840. He soon attracted the attention of important Parisian foundry houses such as Barbedienne and Denière, for whom he designed decorative objects such as candlesticks, clocks and fireplace ornaments. In 1848 he received his first public commission: a statue of the actress Mademoiselle Rachel singing La Marseillaise.
Between 1851 and 1855 he lived in England, in the town of Stoke-on-Trent, where he directed the school of modeling and drawing at the prestigious Mintons porcelain factory. Upon his return to Paris, he established his workshop in rue de la Tour d'Auvergne and from 1857 he participated regularly in the Salon, achieving great notoriety with works in marble such as The Bacchante (1863), Angelica (1866) or Hébé asleep (1869). His sculptural group Le Messie, exhibited in 1867, won him the Medal of Honor for sculpture and was acquired by the State for the church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul.
Carrier-Belleuse also distinguished himself for his terracotta busts, of strong eighteenth-century inspiration, producing portraits of prominent figures of his time such as Napoleon III, Renan, Thiers, Delacroix, Daumier and Marguerite Bellanger, as well as historical and cultural figures such as Mary Stuart, Shakespeare and Mozart.
He directed an important workshop in which many renowned sculptors were trained, among them Alexandre Falguière, Jules Dalou, and above all Auguste Rodin, who joined him as his assistant in 1864. In 1873 he participated in the decoration of the Palais Garnier (Paris Opera), where he made the monumental torches of the great hall and the caryatids of the fireplace in the foyer. Finally, in 1875 he was appointed artistic director of the Manufacture de Sèvres, from where he promoted an aesthetic renewal through an innovative production line of ceramics and vases.