Charles Lévy

CHARLES OCTAVE LÉVY (France, 1820–1899).
"Salome."
Bronze figure.
Signed.
Measurements: 85 cm (height).

The figure is part of the Orientalist movement, which was very much in vogue in France during the Second Empire and the Belle Époque. Lévy combines a romantic interest in the exotic with a refined academic technique in bronze casting. Salome, a biblical figure and the archetype of the femme fatale in 19th-century literature and art, is portrayed here in richly ornamented clothing, sumptuous jewelry, and an intricately detailed headdress. With a serene and majestic demeanor, she holds a sheathed sword (a curved sword in the Oriental style) crossed in front of her hip, a symbol evoking the passage describing the beheading of Saint John the Baptist.

Charles Octave Lévy (Paris, 1820 – Paris, 1899) was a prominent 19th-century French sculptor, renowned for his refined mastery of bronze casting and chiseling. He studied at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris under the tutelage of the sculptor Armand Toussaint (1806–1862). He regularly participated in the famous Paris Salons (Salon des Beaux-Arts) between 1873 and 1898. At the 1889 Salon, he was awarded a third-class medal.
He excelled both in genre figures (peasants and workers, such as *Le Faneur* or *Mineur*) and in allegorical portraits, mythological allegories, and works with a distinctly Orientalist aesthetic. His works are distinguished by the dynamism of the figures’ poses, the level of detail in the clothing and surfaces, and the meticulous application of patinas.