Early 20th century Belle Époque sculpture

Belle Époque sculpture from the beginning of the 20th century.
"Autumn".
Carrara marble.
Measurements: 190 x 50 x 40 cm; 80 x 61 x 60 cm (base).

Autumn has been transfigured in this Belle Époque sculpture in a feminine image whose beauty seems to have been subtracted from the course of events. Her eternal pulse, however, coexists with the rootedness to a place and a time. The young woman wears a crown of vine leaves and bunches of grapes, the same fruit that overflows from her baskets in allusion to the grape harvest. The slender canon, agile and sensual, follows the beauty ideals of Antiquity. Likewise, the carver skillfully reinterprets the technique of wet cloths, so that the fine fabric adheres to the body modeling it while draping naturally where the limbs are folded in graceful gestures.

The representation of allegorical figures of the four seasons originated in the Carrara marble workshops, an iconography that reached its peak during neoclassicism. Among the recurring themes produced by the Carrara workshops were a series of allegorical figures, reiterated from defined models: "the parts of the world", the usual denomination for the representation of the continents and "the seasons". Totally individualized, the figures were conceived to be placed on balustrades, patios or ornamental niches.