Carrier Belleuse Albert-ernest (1824-1887) - La Charmeuse De Serpents

The Snake Charmeuse, an important bronze sculpture with medal patina, very beautiful execution of cast iron and remarkable carving for the drape as well as the hairstyle with the braids tied and raised above the head in the manner of Clodion, it is signed A. CARRIER on the terrace, signature used by the sculptor until 1868, he then signed Carrier Belleuse, it is titled on the base on a plaque as well as on the cherry red marble base. Height with the base: 86 cm CARRIER-BELLEUSE Albert Ernest (1824-1887) whose real name is Carrier de Belleuse, born in Anizy-le-Château on June 12, 1824. After training as a goldsmith, in 1840 he was admitted to the school of fine arts in Paris where he was a pupil of David d'Angers, he started at the salon in 1850, and the same year left for England, where he was director of the Minton factory. In 1855 back in Paris he moved to 15 rue de la tour d'Auvergne, from this workshop where worked more than 50 practitioners, artists of all kinds including Auguste Rodin, released a prodigious quantity of decorative statuettes. It's almost a carving machine ... Every day busts, ornaments, statues, statuettes, bronzes, candelabra, caryatids come out of his workshop; bronze, marble, plaster, alabaster, he cuts everything, he shapes everything, he hollows out everything; but how witty, imaginative, and lively this machine is! (Edouard Lockroy, The Artist, 1865). He was one of the most prolific artists of the century and enjoyed the greatest success under the Second Empire, benefiting from the personal support of Napoleon III. In 1876, he became director of works of art at the Manufacture de Sèvres where he died in 1887. His work was greatly influenced by the style of the Italian Renaissance and that of the 18th century, which he helped to bring back to taste. of the day.