Lot 124: Pietro Franchi, Italian (1817-1878) 'L'Amour Captif' After Charles-Auguste Fraikin The naked Venus supporting the infant Cupid on her shoulder,

The naked Venus supporting the infant Cupid on her shoulder,
standing by a tree-stump, signed and inscribed P.Franchi Sc, Carrara to the tree stump, raised on a circular naturalistically cast base, along with a white marble pedestal, 1m 6cm high, sculpture, 94.5cm high pedestal

The present group, entitled 'L'Amour Captif', is after an original work by Charles-Auguste Fraikin who was a renowned Belgian neo-classical sculptor. The work was exhibited in plaster at the Exposition Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Brussels in 1845, where it won a gold medal. It was exhibited again, in marble, at the same venue three years later, as well as at the Crystal Palace Great Exhibition of 1851 and the International Exhibition in Dublin in 1853. Two marble versions were ordered for the Musée Royale des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, where the original still resides, the plaster is conserved in the Musée Fraikin, Herentals.

Pietro Franchi worked around Carrara in the 1870s. He specialised in highly finished marble copies of popular contemporary sculptures. Another example of L'Amour Captif was sold at Sotheby's London, 16th November 2006, as lot 4.