Lot 19: Émmanuel Hannaux , French 1855-1934 le poète et la sirène bronze, brown patina

signed E. Hannaux and inscribed Susse F res E dt Paris foundry mark. bronze, brown patina

measurements height 31 in. alternate measurements 78.5 cm

Hannaux's impressive group of Le Poete et la Sirène won him a medal of honour at the 1903 Salon. It is one of his most ambitious and acclaimed works. Following its Salon success, the Susse foundry offered Le Poete in their 1905 catalogue along with similar classic academic compositions, such as Boucher's L'Hirondelle Blessee, Falguiere's La Renommée, and Barrias' La Nature. Born in Metz, Hannaux had a solid academic training under Dumont and Bonnassieux and at the École des Beaux-Arts. He made his debut at the Salon in 1878 with subjects in a "modern realist" style, but by the final decade of the century concentrated on more traditional classical and allegorical subject matter.