19th Century Bronze, 51 Cm, Jean Gautherin 1840/1890, Young Woman With Bare Breasts

19th-century bronze, 51 cm, Jean Gautherin (1840-1890), Young Woman with Bare Breasts

Period: 19th century, Lost-wax casting

Bronze with a beautiful patina and in excellent condition.

Signed: Jean Gautherin, listed and established artist.

Sold with invoice and certificate of authenticity.

Subject: Young woman with bare breasts

Dimensions: Height: 51 cm, Width: 23 cm, Depth: 10 cm, Weight: 10 kg

Biography: Jean GAUTHERIN 1840 / 1890

Jean Gautherin was a French sculptor born in the hamlet of Savault in the commune of Ouroux-en-Morvan (Nièvre) on December 19, 1840, and died in Paris on July 21, 1890.

Born in the heart of the Morvan region into a peasant family, Jean Gautherin began carving pieces of wood with a knife in his youth.

His mother, a Morvan wet nurse living in Paris, worked for a director of the Salpêtrière Hospital. During a trip to Paris, Jean Gautherin's father gave one of his son's sculptures to his wife's employer. Impressed, the employer offered to pay for his son's trip to the capital. Illiterate, Gautherin arrived in Paris and began by studying the humanities. After a few years, he worked in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine district.

On October 31, 1864, he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, studying in the studios of Charles Gumery and Auguste Dumont. He made his debut at the Salon of 1865.

He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1878.

In 1879, he participated in the competition for the Monument to the Republic, intended for the Place de la République in Paris. His project was selected in the first round from among nearly 80 others, but in the second round, remaining in contention with the project of the brothers Charles and Léopold Morice, the jury chose the latter. At that time, he was living at 84, rue d'Assas in Paris.

In 1885, he spent several weeks in Copenhagen, commissioned by the collector and patron Carl Jacobsen to sculpt a portrait of Princess Dagmar, the future Tsarina Maria Feodorovna. A significant collection of Gautherin's works is housed in Copenhagen at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, founded by Jacobsen.

He was a member of the "Ninety" committee and was elected to the sculpture committee.

Some of his torchères were cast by Val d'Osne and adorn buildings and public gardens in Rio de Janeiro. The Tusey and Barbedienne foundries also produced his works.

Jean Gautherin died on July 21, 1890, at his home at 2 Passage Stanislas in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. His funeral service was held at his parish church, Notre-Dame-des-Champs, on July 23, 1890, and he was buried in Paris at the Montparnasse Cemetery (28th division).

He is described as a talented sculptor, a conscientious and modest artist.

Source: Bénézit and Pierre Kjellberg, *Dictionnaire des sculpteurs : les bronzes du XIXe siècle*, Éditions de l'Amateur, 1997.

Works in public collections:

Denmark:

Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek:

*Paradise Lost*, 1883, marble group;

*Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia*, 1888, marble statue.

France:

Bonneuil-sur-Marne: Town Hall: Marianne, plaster bust after the marble model in the Paris City Hall.

Château-Gontier: Mayenne sub-prefecture building: The Republic, 1886, bust.

Compiègne: Saint-Antoine Church: Saint Sebastian, 1876, marble statue.

Lyon: Museum of Fine Arts: Paul Chenavard, painter, plaster.

Nevers:

Town Hall: The Republic.

Frédéric Blandin Municipal Museum: Madame Gautherin, 1885, patinated plaster.

Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte Cathedral: The Martyrs of Saint Cyr and Saint Julitta, stone bas-relief adorning the high altar.

Paris:

Montmartre Cemetery: Charles Gumery, 1871, marble bust adorning the tomb of Gautherin's teacher.

Montparnasse Cemetery: Pierre Véron, 1880, bronze bust adorning the journalist's tomb.

Père-Lachaise Cemetery (4th division): Simon Marx, 1865, bronze medallion adorning the tomb of the director of Saint-Antoine Hospital.

Boulevard Saint-Germain: Monument to Diderot, 1886, bronze statue.

City Hall:

The City of Paris, 1881, high-relief adorning the pediment;

Marianne, marble bust.

5th arrondissement town hall, entrance hall: Paradise Lost, 1881, marble group.

Luxembourg Museum: Labor, 1885, bronze, melted down under the Vichy regime.

Musée d'Orsay:

Clotilde de Surville, 1879, marble statue;

Madame Gautherin, 1889, marble bust. Parc Monceau: Paradise Lost, 1883.

Pomérols: Fountain of the Republic, 1912, cast iron.

Reims: Museum of Fine Arts: Clotilde de Surville, plaster. Produced in bronze in eight sizes by Barbedienne.

Rungis: Town Hall: Marianne, terracotta.

Thiais: Town Hall: Marianne, 1880, plaster bust.

Monaco:

Monte-Carlo, Monte-Carlo Casino: decoration of the ballroom.

Exhibitions and Salons

Jean Gautherin received medals at the Salons of 1868, 1870, and 1873.

Salon of French Artists:

1876: Saint Sebastian, marble, hors concours (out of competition);

1879: Young Girl with a Shell; Clotilde de Surville, marble;

1880: The Republic; Portrait of Mr. Pierre Véron;

1889: Portrait of the Empress of Russia.

Universal Exhibition of 1878 in Paris: Clotilde de Surville.

Sold with Invoice and Certificate.

Bronze on view at our gallery in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (France), on weekends.

Free shipping within France.

Shipping abroad available upon request.