Lot 55: LÉOPOLD MORICE FRENCH, 1846-1920

signed: L. Morice

white marble

JEUNE CHATELAINE DANSANT (A DANCING COURTESAN)

98cm., 38 1/2 in.

Morice's Jeune Châtelaine dansant was exhibited as a marble statue at the Salon in 1878. The fine quality of the present marble, with its slight hints of polychrome and subtle fresh carving, are consistent with this being the original Salon marble. Morice subsequently exhibited the same subject at the Exposition Universelle of 1889. A model entitled Danseuse, also in marble, shown at the Salon in 1886, may be a variant of this work.

Born in Nîmes, Morice studied with Jouffroy. He made his debut at the Salon in 1870 where he exhibited mainly Ideal subjects inspired by medieval themes for the next thirty years. He was awarded the Legion d'honneur in 1883 for his most important monument, the statue of the Republic in the Place de la République, Paris.