3680 - François Théodore Devaulx, Hygieia

François Théodore Devaulx, Hygieia dated 1849, signed Devaulx, number 4882 stamped on the reverse, bronze with a dark brown patina; a seated beauty with her hair tied back, her antique-style robe having slipped down her arms and draped in delicate folds around her body; on her arm, in a familiar gesture, she holds a snake amongst flowers, next to her, on the naturalistically designed, domed plinth, lies a basket of flowers, once part of a clock case, very well preserved, H 41 cm. Artist’s biography: French sculptor (1808, Paris - 1871?), studied at the École des beaux-arts de Paris under Jules Ramey from 1823, exhibited at the Paris Salon des artistes from 1845 to 1870, for which he received a third-class medal in 1849; in 1833, he won second prize in the Prix de Rome. Source: Thieme-Becker/Vollmer, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler, published by Seemann Henschel GmbH & Co. KG, and Wikipedia France.