Jules Bonnaffé

JULES BONNAFFÉ (France, 1822-1903).
"Portrait of a woman with a shell-shaped helmet". 1862.
Bust in carved marble.
Signed and dated.
Measurements: 64.5 x 29.5 x 24.5 cm.

This is a unique female portrait both in the exquisite treatment of the marble and in the subject. It shows a female bust with a shell-shaped helmet. The facial oval oozes languor in every detail: the almond-shaped eyes with slightly drooping corners, in harmony with the arch of the eyebrows; the tilted head; the subtly half-open lips.... The wavy hair dialogues with the textures of the shell. On the neck she wears a pearl necklace. Idealized oval almond-shaped eyes with slightly drooping corners in harmony with the arched eyebrows. The whole exudes sensuality and a dreamy air. This beautiful woman's head from 1862 is part of this corpus of feminine allegories that served as a pretext for works promoting female sensuality, pioneered by the sculptor James Pradier in the mid-19th century.

Jules Bonnaffé was a sculptor and painter born in Bordeaux (Gironde) in 1822. He made his debut at the 1848 Salon, where he presented a painting of "Paul finding Virginie's corpse", and a plaster statue. After 1863, he did not exhibit for a long time. His last appearance at the Salon was in 1878, with a marble statue of Terpsichore, now in the André Malraux Museum of Modern Art in Le Havre. At that time he lived in Paris, at 48 rue de la Faisanderie. He was probably related to the collector Edmond Bonnaffé, who died in 1904. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on February 5, 1903. In the Dictionnaire des sculpteurs de l'École française au dix-neuvième siècle by Stanislas Lami the following works by Bonnaffé are referenced: Virginie. Statue in plaster. Salon of 1848 (no. 4622).Le Réveil pour l'éternité. Statue in plaster. Salon of 1850 (no. 3188). Head of a Bacchante. Plaster mask. Salon of 1850 (n° 3189). Beauty at night. Marble statue. Salon of 1857 (n° 2746). Ballerina. Marble statue. Salon of 1861 (n° 3186). Nymph. Marble statue. Salon of 1861 (n° 3187). Nymph of the Gironde. Bas-relief in Bourges stone. Salon of 1863 (n° 2249), among other works now conserved in the Museum of Le Havre.