Lot 180: EMILE OSCAR GUILLAUME FRENCH, 1867-1942 LA DÉLIVERANCE (AN ALLEGORICAL FEMALE NUDE)

signed: Emile Guillaume and inscribed F. BARBEDIENNE. FONDEUR PARIS, the hilt of the sword inscribed DELIVERANCE

bronze, rich dark brown patina, on a carved wooden base (2)

CATALOGUE NOTE

La Déliverance has become a familiar landmark to Londoners and is affectionately known as 'The Naked Lady'. Its unveiling by Prime Minister David Lloyd George in 1926, at its present location on Regent's Park Road on the North Circular, is said to have caused quite a stir. The inscription on the statue reveals 'This statue by Emile Guillaume symbolises the emotion inspired among the Allied nations when the armies of Great Britain and France defeated the invading German armies at the Battle of the Marne, September 1914'.

Guillaume was a pupil of Cavelier and exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français where with other achievements he obtained a gold medal in 1924. He made his Salon debut in 1870 and covered a wide range of subjects, normally of a figurative nature specialising in exotic racial types.

RELATED LITERATURE
J.Darke, The Monument Guide to England and Wales, London 1991, p.66 (illustrated back cover)
Kjellberg p.369

bronze: 155cm., 61in. base: 56cm., 22in.