Lot 185: A FRENCH WHITE MARBLE GROUP, ENTITLED 'LA SEINE'

A FRENCH WHITE MARBLE GROUP, ENTITLED 'LA SEINE' BY DENYS PIERRE PUECH (1854-1942), PARIS, LATE 19TH CENTURY Signed 'D. PUECH / PARIS' 19 in. (48 cm.) high; 48 in. (122 cm.) wide; 11 in. (28 cm.) deep

(48 cm.) high; 48 in. (122 cm.) wide; 11 in. (28 cm.) deep

19TH CENTURY

One of the most well-known bodies of water in the world, the iconic Seine River traverses Paris with many of the City of Light’s most celebrated buildings on its banks. This extraordinary marble represents the mythological creation of the river as recounted by 18th century author Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737-1814). In his L’Arcadie, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre describes how the nymph Seine, daughter of Bacchus, accompanied Ceres on her search for Persephone in Northern France, in reward for which she was granted control of the region’s bodies of water. The Seine was later pursued by an infatuated Neptune, and to save her from her plight, she appealed to Bacchus to turn her into a flowing river; that which today bears her name. The present marble depicts the moment just before the recumbent nymph transforms into a river with reeds wrapped around her body and her hair already disappearing into the flowing water. The bulrushes partially conceal a coat-of-arms of the City of Paris, while the facades of some of its most famous landmarks including the Pont Neuf, La Conciergerie, Notre Dame and the Panthéon are visible in the background. Puech’s marble is no doubt inspired by representations of the episode in Ovid’s Metamorphosis in which Daphne transforms into a tree while being pursued by Apollo, and by 17th century French sculptors’ monumental allegorical marble groups of waterways for the gardens of Louis XIV’s châteaux. However, his virtuoso sculpture is at once classical in inspiration and starkly modern in composition. The figure of the nymph is clearly influenced by the sculpture of antiquity, while her graceful, flowing silhouette, seductive expression and foreshortened position before a carefully articulated skyline evoke the finest sculpture of the Belle Époque. Denys Puech was an accomplished sculptor of the late 19th century who trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and apprenticed under Jouffroy, Falguière and Chapu. He won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1884, and exhibited regularly in the Parisian Salons through the early 20th century, amassing numerous decorations, medals and honours. Puech created 'La Seine’ in 1886 as a student at the French Academy in Rome, the Villa Médicis. Like his contemporaries at the French Academy, Puech was required to send periodic updates from the Eternal City – envois de Rome – in the form of works of art that attested to his ongoing artistic formation. 'La Seine’ was Puech’s first envoi, and was initially shown at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1886. A plaster version was then shown at the Salon of 1887. In 1894, a marble version nearly identical to the present work was acquired by the French state for 12,000 francs. It was subsequently displayed in the musée du Luxembourg in Paris and is today in the musée Denys-Puech in Rodez (RF 1039). A further tinted plaster version is also in the Puech museum in Rodez (2006.0.277). The present lot is an exceptionally rare full-scale marble of Puech’s famous work. According to the museum entry for 'La Seine,’ upon its completion, Puech remarked upon its inherently French and very modern nature, “Je fais un sujet français, je le compose en suivant les règles françaises plutôt que grecques et, dans l’interprétation comme dans la vérité, je serai moderne, très moderne, parisien! C’est là qu’est l’avenir!” Later in the same entry, in a citation from Puech’s letter to his mentor, the artist further expresses his intention to elevate and 'glorify’ the city of Paris through the sculpture: “Vous trouverez donc bien l’idée de glorification de Paris…Tant mieux je l’aime aussi beaucoup moi-même et c’est en grande partie pour elle que j’ai choisi le sujet. C’est elle aussi qui fait toute l’originalité de mon bas-relief. C’est une religion comme une autre d’aimer son pays, et comment n’aimerait-on pas Paris!” With its virtuoso carving, the present marble depicts a figure at once idealized and melodramatic, imbued with the expressivity and movement that characterized the sculpture of the Belle Époque. 'La Seine’ is a wonderfully unique expression of Puech’s adoration of Paris, a city that has inspired artists for centuries.