Bust Of Cloe De Mérode By Leopold Berstamm, Russian School Sculptor At The Grevin Museum

Bust of Cloe de Merode, famous Parisian dancer and courtesan. Leopold Bernstamm Riga, April 20, 1859 – Paris, January 22, 1939 Leopold Bernstamm was born in Riga, a Russian city that became the capital of Latvia. Orphaned at the age of 6, he moved with his father to Saint Petersburg in 1872. The young Leopold, possessed of a strong passion for the arts, was placed by his reluctant father with a painter of ornate letters. At the same time, he took drawing classes and began sculpture with the sculptor Jensen, a student of the great neoclassical artist, Thorvaldsen. His talent was quickly noticed. From 1881, he received commissions for busts from numerous artistic and political figures, including Dostoyevsky and Anton Rubinstein. After a study trip to Italy, he moved to Paris in 1885 and entered the studio of the famous sculptor of the time, Antonin Mercié. He was appointed chief sculptor of the Grévin Museum. At the same time, he opened a studio where the personalities of the time would parade for 30 years. His commissions took him throughout Europe and particularly to Russia where he worked for Tsar Nicholas II. He frequented the Côte d'Azur during the Belle Époque. In 1903, his bust of Berlioz on the esplanade of the Monte-Carlo casino was inaugurated in the presence of Prince Albert I of Monaco. Before the war of 1914, he settled in Menton, Villa les Mouettes, rue Guyau, where he continued his work for cosmopolitan society on vacation on the Riviera. He also created numerous works for the city. In 1920, the monument to the memory of Louis Laurenti, mayor of Menton, was erected in front of the town hall. Ferdinand Bac, the creator of the Colombières, posed in front of Bernstamm. The Spanish writer, Vicente Blasco Ibañez, commissioned the 12 busts for his Fontana Rosa property. His widow naturally turned to Bernstamm to create a monument in his memory. In 1921, the sculptor offered the city 300 busts, statues, statuettes, and models. The Museum of Fine Arts received this precious donation. The inauguration of the Bernstamm gallery was celebrated in January 1923.Foundry Siot Decauville Paris