Jean Alexandre Joseph Falguière (French, 1831-1900), 'Phryne',

patinated bronze, inscribed to the base 'Falguière' and 'GOUPIL & CIE Editeurs', numbered '212'

9cm base diameter, 39cm high

Provenance:

James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn, Baronscourt, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

Footnote:

The origins of this bronze lie in a collaboration conceived a full decade before Gérôme turned to sculpture. Working with his brother-in-law, the dealer Adolphe Goupil, Gérôme proposed translating his celebrated painting 'Phryne Before the Areopagus' into three dimensions, commissioning Falguière to model the figure using the original canvas and Nadar's photographic studies of the model, Marie-Christine Leroux.

The painting itself recounts the dramatic trial of Phryne, the renowned courtesan of ancient Greece, charged with desecrating the Eleusinian Mysteries and facing a capital sentence. At the decisive moment, her advocate Hyperides removed her garments, compelling the judges to confront a beauty so extraordinary that they acquitted her. When Gérôme exhibited the work at the 1861 Salon it proved an immediate succès de scandale: critics were unsettled by Phryne's instinctive gesture of covering her face while exposed, and even Émile Zola found the nude uncomfortably contemporary, likening it to a modern woman surprised while undressing.

Condition Report:

Overall the bronze is in reasonable structural condition, with no obvious repairs or breaks. The patination has an uneven finish and there are some deep scratches, rubbing and abrasions, which would benefit from professional attention. Please see additional images for reference.