Saida By Emmanuel Villanis

This bronze bust with polychrome patina, representing a young and elegant oriental is probably inspired by Saïda character from the opera "Roland" by Auguste Mermet which was presented in 1865. Emmanuel Villanis (1858/1914) sculptor born in Lille of parents Italians exhibited at the Salon of French Artists from 1886 to 1910. Having in her themes a predilection for opera, the Orient or the Bible, her different heroines generally appear under the same idealized personality in their faces. Very nice appearance, foundry mark: Société des Bronzes de Paris (1875/1930) Villanis signature on the shoulder.