Object Description
‘Carthage’ – A Fine Patinated Bronze Group of Salammbô at Mathô’s, By Theodore Riviere, Signed ‘THEODORE-RIVIERE’ and titled “Carthage”. The subject of this work was taken from Gustave Flaubert’s novel, Salammbô, published in 1862. The figure of Salammbô, the legendary femme fatale was to inspire many Symbolist artists. The story takes place between 241–238 BC, during the war between Carthage and its rebels. Mâthô, the chief of the barbarian soldiers, fell in love with Salammbô, the daughter of the Carthaginian General Hamilcar Barca. Rivière has chosen the moment when, mortally wounded by the people, Mâthô dies at the feet of Salammbô his idol crying: “I love you! I love you!” This model was exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1895 and at the Paris 1900 Universal Exhibition, where it was considered as one of the Symbolist movement’s key exhibits. A Chryselephantine group is in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and a plaster-model in the collection of the Musée des Beaux Arts, Dijon. French, Circa 1910.