Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse

Trained at the École des Beaux-Arts, Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse was known to blend classical and Renaissance influences with the ornate style of the Second Empire. Diana the huntress was one of Carrier-Belleuse’s favourite subjects and embodies this intermingling between his various influences; he used her for chimneypieces in a surtout de table for Sèvres and a fountain for the Hôtel Paiva, culminating triumphantly in the figure of Diane Victorieuse.

The Diane Victorieuse was Carrier-Belleuse’s last work and was regarded by the sculptor himself to be the culmination of his refined and influential style. Exhibited in plaster two years before he died, and subsequently made in marble and bronze, he seems to have had high hopes for the commercial success of this theatrical model. The present model is an earlier depiction of Diana, and unlike the Diane Victorieuse depicts the goddess fully nude. In this composition, Carrier-Belleuse combines a reverence for antiquity and the influence of the Fontainebleau School with the opulent sensuality of the Second empire.

RELATED LITERATURE

J. Hargrove and G. Grandjean, Carrier-Belleuse. Le maître de Rodin, exh. cat., Palais de Compiègne, Paris, 2014, p. 44