MATERNITY. BRONZE. FRANCE, CIRCA LATE 19TH CENTURY. PAUL DUBOIS.

Maternity. Bronze. France, towards the end of the 19th century, PAUL DUBOIS, Paul (Nogent-sur-Seine, 1829-Paris, 1905). With inscriptions, signature and foundry seal (A. Collas). Bronze sculpture that has a simple base with inscriptions and on which a humbly dressed female figure is seated and looking down at the two children she is cradling in her arms. These, naked, are one asleep and the other suckling. On the rocky area where the woman sits you can read “P. Dubois.” Paul Dubois was a French sculptor and painter who enjoyed great recognition for the elegance and delicacy of his works, so appreciated that they were widely distributed by important publishers. He trained at the École natinale supérieure des beaux-arts and went to Rome. His work was recognized with awards (Medal in the Paris Salon of 1863, Medal of Honor in 1865, etc.) and with important positions (Director of the National School of Fine Arts, Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, etc. .). His work can be seen in prominent private collections and in institutions such as the Musée Faure (Aix-les-Bains, France), Petit Palais (Paris), Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of New York (United States of America), etc. The present sculpture, in particular, is inspired, with a much smaller size, by the bronze sculpture of Charity (work by Paul Dubois) from the cenotaph of General La Moricière (Louis Juchault de Lamoricière, 1806-1865), installed and inaugurated in 1879 in the Cathedral of Nantes (France). On the base there is a foundry seal (“Reduction Mecanique Brevete/ A. Collas”). Achille Collas (Paris, 1795-1859) was a French engineer, engraver and illustrator known for his works and for being the inventor of a procedure for reproducing and reducing (size) sculptures that became well known and appreciated since he presented it in the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1855. On the front of it you can read “À Madame Nivromont / 1882-1892”. On one side appears “F. Barbedienne, Fondeur, Paris. Ferdinand Barbedienne (L'Oudon, 1810-Paris, 1892) was a French cabinetmaker and bronzesmith, considered one of the main artists of the Second Empire. In 1839 he partnered with the aforementioned Achille Collas to set up a bronze factory specializing in small sculptures (also furniture and silver pieces, all of various styles), which had three hundred workers. Weight 15 kg. .

· Size: 16x22x49cms