LA SOURCE. TERRACOTTA. 20TH CENTURY, AFTER MODELS FROM ALBERT-ERNEST CARRIER-BELLEUSE (FRANCE, 1824-1887).

The fountain. Polychrome terracotta. 20th century, following models by CARRIER-BELLEUSE, Albert-Ernest (Aisne, 1824-Sèvres, 1887). The figure shows a child, lying down and almost completely naked, with his head highlighted with a crown of gold leaves. He is shown with a shell (with touches of gold), taking water from a jug that he has next to him, thus remembering the allegories of rivers or their birth in Ancient Rome. It is necessary to compare the present work with that entitled “La Source” by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, preserved, for example, in the Art Institute of Chicago or that of the Portland Museum of Art (of which there are a series of variants, changing the characters and the material used). Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse was a French sculptor and draftsman trained with David d'Angers and at the Paris School of Fine Arts. He achieved international recognition through his participation in the Salon of French Artists of 1861 (Third Medal), creating outstanding works such as several busts of Napoleon III, the fireplace in the great hall of the Paris Opera, etc. His work is preserved in prominent private collections and in institutions such as the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Prado Museum in Madrid, etc.; In addition, we must remember its terracottas and its monuments (such as that of Bernardo O'Higgins in Santiago de Chile). It is also worth highlighting the publication in 1884 of L'application de la figure humaine à la decoration et à l'ornementation industrielles, an important collection of decorative arts of the time, and in 1876 he was appointed art director of the Manufacture. Nationale de Sèvres.

· Size: 50x25x40 cms