Pierre Julien (1731–1804) – "amalthea And Jupiter's Goat" For Marie Antoinette

A splendid bronze sculpture depicting Amalthea and Jupiter's goat, after the original marble model created by the sculptor Pierre Julien between 1785 and 1787 for Marie Antoinette, intended to adorn the famous Queen's Dairy at the Château de Rambouillet, designed by Hubert Robert.

The original is now in the national collections (on loan from the Louvre Museum to the Château de Rambouillet).

This sculpture illustrates the mythological figure of Amalthea, the nymph who nursed the young Jupiter, collecting milk from her goat—an animal with a symbolic destiny, whose broken horn became the cornucopia.

The artist displays remarkable Neoclassical elegance: the soft and precise modeling of the body, the modest gestures, and the naturalism of the animal perfectly reflect the sensibility of the late 18th century.

The bronze presented here is an early 19th-century cast from the Restoration period, finely chased and covered with a beautiful, nuanced brown patina. It retains all the grace of the original model, reduced to a more intimate scale. The underside of the base shows an early lost-wax casting (hollow bottom, visible traces of chasing and fastening).

Style and Influence: An emblematic work of French Neoclassicism, where the reinterpretation of ancient myths serves as a tribute to virtue and idealized beauty.
Pierre Julien, a member of the Royal Academy and sculptor to the King, was one of the leading masters of his time, alongside Houdon and Pajou.

Height: 30 cm
Width: 19 cm
Depth: 15 cm