A Fine And Large Patinated Bronze Figure Of A Sea Nymph,Entitled ‘La Fée Des Mers’ (The Spirit Of The Seas)

Object Description

Luca Madrassi (Italian, 1848–1916)
A Fine And Large Patinated Bronze Figure Of A Sea Nymph, Entitled ‘La Fée Des Mers’ (The Spirit Of The Seas)

The semi clad winged nymph, holding aloft billowing drapery in one hand and a flower in the other, with a scallop shell diadem, standing on a shell cast base, on a veined cream marble socle plinth base.

Signed ‘MADRASSI’ on the seashell.

Italy, Circa 1900.

Titled ‘La Fée Des Mers’ (The Spirit Of The Seas), the subject is indebted to the Nereides of Greek mythology, who symbolized everything that is beautiful and kind about the sea, and the Oceanids who were born to their father Oceanus, the great primordial world-encircling river, and their mother Tethys, a sea goddess. Famous amongst them are Calypso, who enchanted Odysseus, and Clytie, who loved the god of the sun Helios in vain and for her pains was turned into a violet flower that gazes at the Sun in its diurnal journey.

Object History

Born in Tricesimo, Italy in 1848, Madrassi began his art studies in Rome before studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, under the famous master Pierre-Jules Cavelier.

Madrassi joined the studio of the famous sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse’s (1824-1887) and later Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929); both of which had great influence on the playful romantic quality of his work. He also assisted the Scottish sculptor Lord Ronald Gower (1845-1916). Known primarily for busts and statuettes his work is typically defined by an imaginative and sensitive interpretation of allegorical themes.

Madrassi exhibited frequently at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Francais from 1879 onwards, obtaining an honourable mention on several occasions (1881 , 1882 , 1883 and 1885) and a third-class medal in 1896. In 1890 he finally obtained French nationality and became a full member of the Société des Artistes Français. He also exhibited at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1896.

Object Literature

Berman, Harold. Bronzes, Sculptors and Founders 1800-1930, Abage, (Chicago), 1980; Vols. 1-4.

Kjellberg, Pierre. Les Bronzes du XIX siècle, Dictionnaire des Sculpteurs, Les Editions de l’Amateur, (Paris), 1989.

Object Details