BRONZE SCULPTURE, "CHILD PINCHED BY A CRAYFISH", AFTER JEAN-BAPTISTE PIGALLE, 19TH CENTURY

a nuanced brown and green patina, signed Pigalle on the base, depicts a child surprised by a crayfish's bite. Tears stream down the cheeks of the naked child, seated on a large seashell, having just been pinched by a crayfish. The sculpture rests on a green marble plinth. Jean-Baptiste Pigalle was a renowned French sculptor born in Paris in 1714. From a young age, he studied sculpture and realized that his art was his life's calling. He then decided to travel to Italy in 1734 to refine his technique. He subsequently entered the École des Beaux-Arts, thanks to his work " Mercury Fastening His Heel " (1740), which was an immediate success. Several artists owned copies, painters depicted it in their canvases, and a biscuit porcelain reduction was produced by the Sèvres porcelain factory as early as 1770. Commissions quickly multiplied, and Madame de Pompadour took him under her wing. Juggling between Baroque and Classical styles, he painted portraits of Diderot and Voltaire, then created the famous funerary monuments for Marshal de Saxe (Strasbourg, 1776). He died in Paris in 1785, leaving behind a remarkable body of work.

Circa: 1850

Condition report : very good condition.