After Antoine Coysevox, ca. 1870

After ANTOINE COYSEVOX (France, 1640 - 1720), ca. 1870.
"Faun playing the flute".
Patinated bronze.
Features Achille Collas stamp, mechanical reduction.
Signed.
Measurements: 71 cm (height).

The work represented is a later model in bronze of an original in marble by Antoine Coysevox, made around 1700, which can be found in the Louvre Museum (MR 1820), where there is also an earlier reproduction in terracotta (RF 2710). Originally commissioned in 1707 to Coysevox by the Direction "des bâtiments du roi" along with "The Woodland Nymph", it was intended to decorate the Château de Marly, erected by Louis XIV at the end of the 17th century to escape the stifling etiquette of Versailles.

The sculpture evokes with great technical virtuosity the repose of a faun in the forest, an ideal theme if we think of the climate of abandonment to nature and tranquility for which it was designed. It is not surprising, also, the success that the piece continued to have more than two centuries later, especially if we remember Debussy's symphonic poem, "Prelude to the nap of a faun", premiered in Paris in 1894, inspired, in turn, by the homonymous poem by Stéphane Mallarmé, published in 1876. It is considered the most important poem in French literature, describing the sensual experiences of a faun who has just awakened from his nap and tells of his encounters with several nymphs during the previous morning.

Coysevox joined the workshop of the sculptor Louis Lerambert, where he worked copying Roman sculptures in marble. In 1676 he completed a bust of Le Brun, which earned him admission to the Royal Academy. Thanks to this he became part of the team of the aforementioned Le Brun, thus being able to make several pieces for Versailles and Marly, where the piece in question was to be found.