Lot 80: Jean Jules Cambos , French 1828-1917 la cigale white marble

signed and dated: . I. CAMBOS. 1875 . and entitled: LA CIGALE white marble

measurements note 81.5cm., 32 1/8 in.

La cigale, ayant chanté
Tout l'été,
Se trouva fort dépourvue
Quand la bise fut venue

La cigale et la formi, Jean de la Fontaine (1621 -1695)

The title of the present marble refers to Jean de la Fontaine's fable detailing the adventures of a grasshopper and an ant. The grasshopper passes the summer months singing at his ease whilst the ant builds stores for the winter. When winter sets in the grasshopper turns to the ant for food and shelter, but the ant refuses and leaves him to his fate. Like a number of his contemporaries, such as Carrier-Belleuse, Cambos has transformed the grasshopper of the tale into a beautiful, musical young woman. Summer has past and the girl's scant drapery is blown in the wind whilst she draws herself in against the cold, her lute forgotten, tucked under her arm.

Jean Jules Cambos entered the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1853 and had his Salon début four years later. He had a brilliant career and was given many prestigious official commissions including works for Versailles and the Académie nationale de musique.

A version of his Cigale is in the Musée Goya in his native town of Castres in south west France.

RELATED LITERATURE
Bénézit, vol. 3, p. 150