Alfred Boucher (1850 - 1934)

Private collection, Belgium

J. Piette, Alfred Boucher 1850 - 1934, L'œuvre sculpté, Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 2014, p. 116-117, listed as cat. A20.

In 1883, Alfred Boucher created two versions of Le Sculpteur florentin, both direct references to Le Chanteur florentin by his master, Paul Dubois. In the first version, of which a bronze was exhibited at the 1888 Salon (no. 3827), the young sculptor, shown full-length, is working on the finishing touches of a statuette, whereas in the second, he is only beginning to rough out his block of marble.

As with Volubilis, Boucher went on to produce variations of the model. The present example — depicting only the head of the young Florentine emerging from the raw marble block — does not appear to have been part of an edition.