Lot 162: PIETRO FRANCHI, AFTER CHARLES-AUGUSTE FRAIKIN (1817-1893)

ITALIAN 1817-1878 VENUS AND CUPID signed indistinctly: P. Franchi Sc / Carrara white marble, on a veined white marble column with a revolving top group: 107cm., 42 1/8 in. column: 95cm., 37½in.

Charles-Auguste Fraikin studied at the Brussels Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts under Louis Jéhotte. His masterpiece, L'Amour Captif, won the gold medal at the Exposition Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Brussels in 1845. It was subsequently exhibited in London (1851) and Dublin (1853). Two marble versions were ordered for the Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, and the Hermitage, St. Petersburg. The lissom L'Amour Captif exemplifies Fraikin's graceful interpretation of Neo-classicism. The model proved to be extremely popular and was copied by sculptors across Europe. Pietro Franchi worked in Carrara around 1870 and specialised in creating marble copies of famous contemporary statues. RELATED LITERATURE J. van Lennep, De 19de eeuwse Belgische beeldhouwkunst, Brussels, 1990, p.175