Lot 189: CONSTANT AMBROISE ROUX

FRENCH 1865-1929 LA TENTATION D'EVE (THE TEMPTATION OF EVE) signed: CONSTANT ROUX / ROME 1893 white marble 41 by 75.5cm., 16 1/8 by 29¾in.

Eve is represented as a beautiful classical figure, resting on the bare ground. Flowers surround her and she stretches her upper body in a gesture of languid ease. Constant Roux has chosen to illustrate the moment before The Fall. The peeping head of a snake to Eve’s left hints at impending doom. It is only when the sculpture is appreciated in the round, that the viewer fully comprehends the threat: the large scaly body of a snake, as long as Eve, coils its way towards her to whisper its malice. Its proximity to her naked body adds quiet menace; its head nearing Eve’s bare breast alludes to Cleopatra, another legendary woman with dangerous influence over men. Constant Roux was born in Marseilles and studied under Pierre Jules Cavelier and Louis Ernest Barrias. The present marble is dated 1893 and Roux received the Prix de Rome in 1894. He achieved a first class medal at the Salon in 1911 and the Legion d’Honneur in 1923.