Large Bronze "child In A Cage" On Marble After Jean-baptiste Pigalle - 19th Century

Imposing bronze with green patina after Jean Baptiste PIGALLE (1714-1785), a major French sculptor of the 18th century. Representing the model "the child in the cage" after the original marble model sculpted in 1749 by Pigalle, commissioned by Pâris de Montmartel to represent his son. This piece is kept at the Louvre. The bronze represents a young naked child seated in a realistic posture who looks downwards, pensive, beside him, on the base, sits a small birdcage (a symbol sometimes interpreted as the fragility of existence or innocence). The sculpture rests on a very beautiful rectangular base in beautiful marble called bardiglio, a gray Italian marble with white veins) and decorated with a frieze of pearls Pigalle was a renowned sculptor of his time, protégé of Madame de Pompadour, and one of the first to introduce more naturalness and realism into academic art. Bronze casts of his works (like this one) are highly sought after by collectors.