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A fine Louis XVI life size terracotta figure of the goddess Diana. She is depicted in robes with a quiver at her waist and a bow in her hand above her seated hound.
Height of base 100cm
Heigt of statue 155cm
With restorations.
The origin of this elegant model of Diana derives from a drawing by Phillipe Magnier (Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris) made as part of a series of nymph huntresses at Marly, commissioned for the park by Louis XIV. The drawing features the same general composition of the body and shows the female figure holding a bow with a hunting dog rising from her left-hand side.
The sculptor has also sourced elements from the statue of Queen Marie Leszczynska by Guillaume Coustou, commissioned by the Duc d’Antin in 1725 and today in the Louvre (M.R.1813). In terms of composition, the charming delicate head and the sumptuous flow of the dress could be said to be modelled after Mme. de Pompadour, alongside other pieces from the third quarter of the 18th century. A close comparison to this graceful sculpture of Diane can be seen in the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art collection.
Literature
Reau, Louis – ‘Les Compagnes de Diane’, Gazette des Beaux Arts, 7 (February, 1932), p.136.
Hyland, Douglas; Stokstad, Marylin (ed.) – Catalogue of the Sculpture Collection, Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, 1981, cat.nr.75, p.69.