Description
CLODION (1738-1814), AFTER THE NINETEENTH CENTURY FRENCH SCHOOL Reclining Bacchante holding a cup and a bunch of grapes in her hands Statuette in terra cotta, bears a signature CLODION and a date " 1787 ". Rests on a rectangular wooden base in imitation of ancient green marble. Under glass. Small restoration. H: 24 cm - W: 38 cm - D: 17,5 cm It is accompanied by photographs of the two terracottas forming a counterpart as well as the last original letter written by Empress Eugenie dated March 8, 1919 in Cap Martin, offering these two terracottas to Hugenschmidt. This sculpture is the counterpart of the one we presented at the first sale of the Pietri Collection, Osenat, April 1, 2012, No. 84 p.88. This statuette had probably been proven after an original terracotta by Clodion mentioned in the sale of the De Preuil collection in 1811 under n°200 (Répertoire thématique des oeuvres Clodion d'après les catalogs de ventes parisiennes entre 1767 et 1820 by Guilhem Scherf; catalog de l'exposition Clodion; RMN, Paris 1992. Page 425.) This is probably an edition by Barbedienne. Indeed, we find these two Bacchantes illustrated in the Barbedienne catalog published in 1880 (Cat. F Barbedienne; Paris, 1880, musée du Louvre, Documentation du département des sculptures) Provenance: - Collection of Doctor Hugenschmidt (will of September 7, 1929). - Collection of Baciocchi. History: Given by Empress Eugenie to Doctor Hugenschmidt, by letter dated March 8, 1919 from Cap Martin: "You have admired my Clodion and I had them brought to you. It is a great pleasure for me to give them to you and I hope that you will keep them in memory of me. Believe in my sincere affection. Biography: Arthur Hugenschmidt, born in Paris on September 22, 1862 and died in the same city on September 7, 1929, was a French dental surgeon of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He is reputed to be the natural son of Napoleon III. Declared to the civil status as the son of Christophe Hugenschmidt (1826-1893), employee of the House of the Emperor, and Elisabeth Hauger (1825-1915), Arthur Christophe Hugenschmidt would be in reality the child of the Emperor of the French and the countess of Castiglione, whose affair is however attested only for the years 1856 and 1857 Arthur Hugenschmidt, who had the Prince Imperial as a playmate, spent his child at the Hotel Régina, which was then an annex of the Tuileries where imperial servants were staying. Exiled to England after the disaster of 1870, Napoleon III asked his dentist, the American Thomas W. Evans, to look after the future of his illegitimate son. After the death of the Prince Imperial in 1879, Eugenie asked to meet Arthur. She was disturbed by the similarity of his features to those of her late son and, on seeing him, exclaimed: "How much you resemble him! She remained in contact with him until his death and gave him several objects as a gift, thus constituting the beginning of a collection of Napoleonic souvenirs which he later donated to the museum of the Château de Malmaison.
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CLODION (1738-1814), AFTER THE NINETEENTH CENTURY FRENCH SCHOOL Reclining Bacchante holding a cup and a bunch of grapes in her hands Statuette in terra cotta, bears a signature CLODION and a date " 1787 ". Rests on a rectangular wooden base in imitation of ancient green marble. Under glass. Small restoration. H: 24 cm - W: 38 cm - D: 17,5 cm It is accompanied by photographs of the two terracottas forming a counterpart as well as the last original letter written by Empress Eugenie dated March 8, 1919 in Cap Martin, offering these two terracottas to Hugenschmidt. This sculpture is the counterpart of the one we presented at the first sale of the Pietri Collection, Osenat, April 1, 2012, No. 84 p.88. This statuette had probably been proven after an original terracotta by Clodion mentioned in the sale of the De Preuil collection in 1811 under n°200 (Répertoire thématique des oeuvres Clodion d'après les catalogs de ventes parisiennes entre 1767 et 1820 by Guilhem Scherf; catalog de l'exposition Clodion; RMN, Paris 1992. Page 425.) This is probably an edition by Barbedienne. Indeed, we find these two Bacchantes illustrated in the Barbedienne catalog published in 1880 (Cat. F Barbedienne; Paris, 1880, musée du Louvre, Documentation du département des sculptures) Provenance: - Collection of Doctor Hugenschmidt (will of September 7, 1929). - Collection of Baciocchi. History: Given by Empress Eugenie to Doctor Hugenschmidt, by letter dated March 8, 1919 from Cap Martin: "You have admired my Clodion and I had them brought to you. It is a great pleasure for me to give them to you and I hope that you will keep them in memory of me. Believe in my sincere affection. Biography: Arthur Hugenschmidt, born in Paris on September 22, 1862 and died in the same city on September 7, 1929, was a French dental surgeon of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He is reputed to be the natural son of Napoleon III. Declared to the civil status as the son of Christophe Hugenschmidt (1826-1893), employee of the House of the Emperor, and Elisabeth Hauger (1825-1915), Arthur Christophe Hugenschmidt would be in reality the child of the Emperor of the French and the countess of Castiglione, whose affair is however attested only for the years 1856 and 1857 Arthur Hugenschmidt, who had the Prince Imperial as a playmate, spent his child at the Hotel Régina, which was then an annex of the Tuileries where imperial servants were staying. Exiled to England after the disaster of 1870, Napoleon III asked his dentist, the American Thomas W. Evans, to look after the future of his illegitimate son. After the death of the Prince Imperial in 1879, Eugenie asked to meet Arthur. She was disturbed by the similarity of his features to those of her late son and, on seeing him, exclaimed: "How much you resemble him! She remained in contact with him until his death and gave him several objects as a gift, thus constituting the beginning of a collection of Napoleonic souvenirs which he later donated to the museum of the Château de Malmaison.
