165 - Jean-Baptiste CARPEAUX (1827–1875)

Jean-Baptiste CARPEAUX (1827–1875) Ugolin (sketch from the Villa Medici) Model created around 1858; produced by Susse between 1935 and 1939 Patinated terracotta cast (small chips in the patina) Signed “JB Carpeaux” Bears the circular stamp and the publisher’s stamp “SUSSE FRES EDITEURS / PARIS” H. 49 cm RELATED LITERATURE: Michel Poletti, Alain Richarme, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Sculptor. A Catalog Raisonné of His Published Works, Paris, Les Expressions contemporaines, 2003; this model is listed under no. ES16, pp. 170–171. NOTE: Ugolin is the last work Carpeaux sent from the Villa Medici in Rome, where he was a resident artist. After three years of work, Carpeaux completed this piece, which he considered one of his most accomplished works. To “express the most violent passions and imbue them with the most delicate tenderness,” inspired by this subject drawn from Dante’s *Inferno* (Canto XXXIII), Carpeaux blended the power of Michelangelo with the age-old models of the ancient Laocoön and Dürer’s Melencolia. This harrowing example of filial devotion did not sit well with the Institute, which, upon being informed by the director of the Villa Medici, asked Carpeaux to modify his design. In a fit of rage, Carpeaux destroyed his statue before reassembling it, determined never to abandon it.