Prosper d'EPINAY (Pamplemousses [Mauritius], 1836 - Saint-Cy - Lot 133

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Lot n° 133
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Prosper d'EPINAY (Pamplemousses [Mauritius], 1836 - Saint-Cy - Lot 133
Prosper d'EPINAY (Pamplemousses [Mauritius], 1836 - Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire, 1914) Françoise de la Rochefoucauld (ca. 1549-ca. 1580), wife of Claude d'Epinay Polychrome terracotta Signed on the reverse at the bottom of the right arm "P. D'EPINAY H. 60.3 x W. 39.5 x D. 21.7 cm Base : H. 13 cm x W. 53 x D. 27,4 cm On its neo-Gothic walnut base, embossed and titled : " FRANCOISE DE LA ROCHEFOUCAUD / EPINAY'S BOSS / M1578 ". Provenance: - D'Epinay sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, April 20-21, 1885, No. 40 (sold for 540 francs). - Drouot Estimation sale, September 29, 2017, no. 227. Related literature: Patricia Roux-Foujols, Prosper d'Épinay, un sculpteur mauricien à la cour des princes, L'amicale île Maurice-France, 1996. Born into a family of French origin in Mauritius that became English in 1814, the artist Prosper d'Épinay had a cosmopolitan and worldly career in Paris, London and Rome, no doubt linked to his Creole roots and his ability to adapt, which allowed him to easily integrate into high society. Trained first in Paris with the portraitist and caricaturist Dantan le Jeune from 1857 to 1860, Prosper d'Épinay soon began to practice portraiture, a category in which he excelled. He became one of the most prized specialists of the genre at the time, along with Carrier-Belleuse and Carpeaux. Curious and prolific, he also created works that responded to the taste of the 1880s for polychrome sculpture, following the example of Charles Cordier, James Pradier and Auguste Clésinger. In 1863 he created a polychrome terracotta bust of Father Jacques-Désiré Laval (1803-1864), an important figure in Mauritius. In addition to polychromy, he associated the neo-renaissance style in fashion at the end of the 19th century to represent his daughter Claire around 1878, the Countess Stroganoff around 1876, the Baroness de Bosmelet in 1882 and especially his son Georges, in a remarkable bust portrait, in Henri II costume, sold by the Talabardon & Gautier gallery at the Art Gallery of Ontario (around 1884, n° inv.2018/13). Here, however, it is not a contemporary, family member or friend, whom he portrays with the fantasy of a Renaissance disguise, but his grandmother Françoise de la Rochefoucauld, second wife of the Marquis Claude d'Epinay, married in 1578, as the title on the beautiful original base indicates. The presence of the La Rochefoucauld and Epinay coats of arms on either side of the title suggests a "genealogical" rather than historicist motivation for this sensitive portrait. The artist may have been paying homage to his lineage, but at the same time wanted to reinforce it, even though some specialists (such as Gustave Chaix d'Est-Ange in 1918 in his Histoire des familles françaises anciennes et notables) doubt its historical validity. This imaginary representation of Prosper d'Epinay's grandmother is a masterful combination of the meticulousness of a realistic portrait and the grace of an idealized and solemn image inspired by 15th century Florentine busts. Did the sculptor use a living model or did he create a timeless personality based on iconographic material from the Renaissance? No one knows... But everyone can admire in this portrait the mastery of traditional techniques and the formal inventiveness of Prosper d'Epinay.
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