Harvester… - F. Duret - Bronze

Grape picker improvising on a comic subject (souvenir from Naples). Large bronze after the model created in 1838 by the sculptor Francisque Duret (1804-1865). Duret, was inspired by Antiquity and in particular by dancing fauns to create his model which, like his Young fisherman dancing the Tarentelle, would meet with immense success under the July Monarchy.
Rude inaugurated this vogue at the 1829 salon where he presented the plaster model of the Neapolitan fisherman playing with a turtle. Romantic artists saw in these popular Italian figures the last vestiges of an innocence soon to be lost and a means of bringing a new freshness to sculpture. The subjects are playful and popular; underpants, headdresses and medals situate the work in a joyful and somewhat fantasized Naples.
Model exhibited at the Louvre Museum.

Dimensions: 21,2 x 7,9 x 7,9 Inches