Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827 - 1875)

First Carpeaux sale, Paris, 31 May, 1 & 2 June 1894, lot 541;

then second Carpeaux sale, Paris, 8 & 9 December 1913, lot 1;

Private collection, Paris.

M. Poletti, A. Richarme, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, sculpteur. Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre édité, Paris, 2003, p. 100, no. SE 22, ill. a.

Among Carpeaux’s earliest independent compositions, such as Reading and Maternal Tenderness, The Toilet of Venus was executed prior to his departure for Rome, around 1855, and fully embodies the young sculptor’s initial Neoclassical aesthetic. The geometric form of the base recalls that of James Pradier’s models, as does the treatment of the clinging drapery. Particular attention is given here to the folds converging toward the large knot that barely secures the fabric beneath the goddess’s waist. The overall movement of her body, turning to the right, and her left arm bent above her head, appear directly inspired by the ancient Venus Callipyge, otherwise known by the evocative title Venus of the Beautiful Buttocks (National Archaeological Museum, Naples, inv. 6021).

Initially produced in bronze, in a confidential edition, then in terracotta and marble, the subject—of which the present work is the chef-modèle (master model)—is rarely encountered on the market. Intended for practical use within the artist’s studio, this matrix served as a reference for the assembly of the separately cast elements, ensuring the conformity of each bronze. In keeping with the non-commercial nature of a chef-modèle, the present example bears neither the artist’s signature nor the Propriété Carpeaux stamp.

It was first recorded, with visible pegs, at the sale of the artist’s studio in 1894 (lot 541), and again at the second sale in 1913 (lot 1), before being reassembled as a finished proof, that is, with the pegs concealed. As is characteristic of all chef-modèles, the dimensions of the present example are slightly larger than those of the edition pieces, and it displays an exceptionally refined chiselling that enlivens the surface, particularly on Venus’s abdomen and arms.

A plaster model of The Toilet of Venus is held in the collections of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nice (inv. R6812), and another in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Valenciennes (inv. S92-6). Two bronze examples are preserved in Parisian collections.