James Pradier

JAMES PRADIER (Switzerland, 1790 - France, 1852).
"La Toilette d'Atlante".
Bronze patinated.
Signed. With Fonderie Susse stamp, with special mention "Prix d'honneur 1886".
Measures: 23 x 20 x 14 cm.
Magnificent work by the master James Pradier, with the same formal characteristics as the one conserved in the 1850 Salon of the Louvre Museum. The artist masterfully depicts Atlanta, a heroine of Greek mythology, consecrated to Artemis and renowned for her daring hunting skills. In the present sculpture the French master depicts one of the most important episodes in the life of the heroine, the myth of Hippomenes or Melanion: owing to her consecration to Artemis, Attalante had to remain a virgin at all times, which led her to avoid any suitor. To this end, she announced that her husband would be the one who managed to beat her in a race and that, if she was the winner, her opponent would be sacrificed for her. Only Hippomenes - or Melanion, in other versions - managed to win Atalanta's hand by throwing apples enchanted by Aphrodite, which Atlanta inevitably had to bend down to pick up because of the beauty they awakened. Specifically, Pradier depicts the moment when the protagonist puts on her sandals, ready to beat Hippomides in the race. The delicacy of the sculpture is heir to the concept of classical sculpture, in which the theme of antiquity is also used to study the female figure in movement. The dynamic, undulating folds, which add lightness and realism to the figure, and the meticulous work on the details are also outstanding.

Born in Geneva, Pradier travelled to Paris in 1807 to work with his older brother, an engraver by profession. He won a Prix de Rome which enabled him to study there between 1814 and 1818 with Ingres, and in 1827 he became a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts and a professor at the École de Beaux-Arts. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Pradier supervised the finishing of his sculptures. He is represented in the Louvre and Orsay Museums in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Chi-Mei Museum in Taiwan and the Courtauld Institute in London, among others. Special mention should be made of the founder, Auguste Maximilien Delafontaine, heir to a family tradition begun in the second half of the 18th century by Jean Baptiste Maximilien Delafontaine. Auguste Maximilien took over the reins of the family factory in 1840, marking the beginning of the foundry's most fruitful period. During these years, important sculptors of the time such as Duret, Cavlier and Pradier collaborated with Delafontaine.