After Clodion

After "CLODION"; CLAUDE MICHEL (Nancy, 1738 - Paris, 1814).
"The childhood of the Silenus".
Patinated bronze. Marble pedestal.
With signature "Clodion" and numbered (n. 5772).
With foundry stamp Societé des Bronzes de Paris.
Measurements: 37 x 24 x 16 cm.

In this sculptural ensemble following Clodion's models, the artist approaches one of his favorite themes, that of the bacchanals or sacred feasts dedicated to the god Bacchus. It is a dynamic image, with an ascending helicoidal movement, in the manner of Bernini's baroque works.

Claude Michel, known as Clodion, was born in Nancy, but in 1755 he moved to Paris to study in the workshop of his uncle, the sculptor Lambert Sigisbert Adam, with whom he remained for four years. After his death, he became a disciple of Jean Baptiste Pigalle, Madame de Pompadour's favorite sculptor. Soon his work began to be recognized, and in 1759 he won the grand prize for sculpture at the Académie Royale. In 1761 he was awarded the first silver medal for studies on models, and a year later he obtained the Grand Prix of the Royal Academy, consisting of a pension to extend his training in Italy. In Rome Clodion developed an intense activity between 1767 and 1771. Back in Paris he established his own workshop, where he worked with his brothers representing mythological scenes, groups of dancers, nymphs and bathers, in a language somewhere between Rococo and Neoclassicism. His works were in great demand, from the Parisian salons to Catherine II of Russia. Clodion's works are preserved in the Louvre (Paris), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg), the Victoria & Albert Museum (London), the Art Institute of Chicago, the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles), the Frick Collection (New York) and the Kimbell Museum (Forth Worth, Texas), among many others.