BRONZE SCULPTURE "PHRYNE DEVANT SES JUGES" BY PIERRE-ETIENNE DANIEL CAMPAGNE

Important bronze sculpture in shaded brown patina depicting "Phryne devant ses juges" by Pierre-Etienne Daniel Campagne (1851-1910). Titled on a cartouche: "Phryne devant ses juges par Campagne (Sculptr)" and signed: "D. Campagne". Campagne worked mainly in Paris, where he studied sculpture with Falguière. He first took part in the Salon des Artistes Français in 1889. Phryne, a famous and wealthy courtesan from Thespia in Boeotia, probably moved to Athens after her city was destroyed by the Thebans in 371 BC. Accused of impiety, Hypéride, her lawyer, running out of arguments just as she was about to be condemned, removed the peplos draped over Phryné and showed all the splendors of her beauty, thus winning the jury's favor: the woman was acquitted and carried in triumph to the temple of Aphrodite. Renowned for her beauty, she is said to have served as the model for her lover Praxiteles' Aphrodite of Cnidus. In the second half of the 19th century, Phryné fed the imagination of French artists; like Sapho and Aspasie, she perpetuated the classical tradition of illustrious and controversial women: she was the subject of numerous paintings and sculptures, notably as a nude woman before judges. Among the best-known is Jean-Léon Gérôme's "Phryné devant l'Aréopage" (1861), now in the Hamburg Kunsthalle. Late 19th century, Circa: 1890 Dim: W:45cm, D:26cm, H:85cm.