Lot 8: A WHITE MARBLE FIGURE OF THE SEATED VENUS

A WHITE MARBLE FIGURE OF THE SEATED VENUS
BY GILLES-LAMBERT GODECHARLE (1750-1835)
Depicted seated holding a quiver full of roses in her right hand and a spray of roses in her left hand, inscribed 'Godecharle f.'
13 in. (33 cm.) high, 12¾ in. (32.5 cm.) wide

Anthony Roth, sold, Christie's, London, 9 December 1993, lot 189.

PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
(LOTS 8-9)

Often attributed to Etienne-Maurice Falconet, there are versions of this marble in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore and the Cognac-Jay Museum, Paris. See L. Réau, Etienne-Maurice Falconet, vol. I, Paris, 1922, pp. 238-240 and plate XXIII for a discussion of the composition and the different versions.

Gilles-Lambert Godecharle was the most gifted of Laurent Delvaux's students. He went on to be accepted by the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture and to work with the finest French sculptors of the 18th century including Houdon, Pigalle and Tassaert. His style was an eclectic melange of baroque, rococo and neo-classicism that he mixed in varying quantities depending on the type of patron for whom he was working.

By the age of 25 he had already worked in the Netherlands, France and even accompanied Tassaert to Berlin where he worked under the latter as court sculptor to Frederick the Great. In 1778 Godecharle went briefly to London and then to Rome where in the same year he was awarded first prize for sculpture by the Accademia di San Luca. He returned to Flanders shortly after and spent much of his remaining career working on both public and private commissions.