Lot 64: GUSTAVE-JOSEPH CHÉRET

RÉVERIE D'AMOUR (THE DREAM OF LOVE)
signed: Joseph. Chéret and with a plaque inscribed: RÉVERIE D'AMOUR JOSEPH CHÈRET PARIS-FRANCE

bronze: 205cm., 80¾in. base: 47cm., 18½in.

bronze, mid and dark brown patina, on a veined black marble base

Gustave-Joseph Chéret studied sculpture under the great nineteenth-century master Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse. Chéret joined the master's atelier and married Carrier-Belleuse's daughter, Marie. As an accomplished creator of decorative arts as well as sculpture he was perfectly placed to succeed his father-in-law as artistic director of the Sèvres factory after Carrier-Belleuse died in 1887.

This impressive bronze is also known as Day, and the model was exhibited as a pendant to Chéret's Night at the Salon on 1883. The girl is awakening amidst a cluster of cupids teasing her with memories of her dreams. The delicate gestures and the jewel-like double patination, with flesh picked out in a golden highlight, give the sculpture a refined grace which is astonishing in a bronze of such large scale. Chéret's mastery of bronze is also seen in the composition. The broad circle of cupids is held aloft by the slender form of the girl, giving an extraordinary impression of lightness quite contrary to the material. Réverie d'amour perfectly epitomises the late nineteenth century romantic spirit.

RELATED LITERATURE
S. Lami, Dictionnaire des Sculpteurs de l'école française, au dix-neuvième siècle, Paris, 1914, vol. I, pp. 371-5