'L'Amour Vainqueur' ('A Love Vanquished') By Adolphe Itasse (French, 1830 - 1893)

A Fine Patinated Bronze Figural Group of  Cupid and Psyche, Entitled 'L'Amour Vainqueur' ('A Love Vanquished') By Adolphe Itasse (French, 1830 - 1893).

On a revolving rouge de France marble base.

Signed and dated ‘A. Itasse / Scvpt / 1887’, inscribed ‘W. BOUGUEREAU. INV’, stamped with a foundry seal, further inscribed: ‘42047 / 6’, and with brass title plaque to the base.

French, Dated 1887.

The inspiration for this fine bronze group was the painting of the same title by the celebrated artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau painted in 1886 and shown at the the Paris Exposition universelle of 1889.  In the same way that Bouguereau often drew inspiration from sculptural compositions for his paintings, sculptors were similarly inspired by his work. The subject shows an infant cupid and psyche and prophesises the abjection of psyche as told in the story of Metamorphoses.

Exhibited:
'L'Amour vainqueur, d'après Bouguereau', group in bronze. Salon 1888 (n°4254) and group in marble, Salon 1890 (n° 4029).

Literature:
Stanislas Lami, Dictionnaire des sculpteurs de l'Ecole française au dix-neuvième siècle (T. III. G.-M.), Paris, 1914, p. 189-191.

Adolphe Itasse

Adolphe Itasse (1830-1893), was an important French sculptor born in Loumarin, who studied under Belloc and Jacquot and exhibited at the Salon from 1864 to 1893.

Itasse worked on a number of important public commissions for the Louvre (Retour de la Chasse), the Opera (Philidor, Puccini, Cambert), the Trocadero Palace (L’Astronomie) and Hotel de Ville de Paris (La Vapeur; Le Gaz).

He specialised in portrait busts and reliefs including those of contemporary personalities. He also sculpted a number of genre and allegorical works, such as The Kiss, The Birth of Love, Astronomy and Science.

Amongst other awards he won a medal at the 1875 Salon and an honorable mention at the Universal Exhibition of 1889.

Bibliography:
Mackay, James. The Dictionary of Western Sculptors In Bronze, Baron Publishing, (Woodbridge, UK), 1977; p. 195

Dimensions

Price on application

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

Stock number