Lot 12: Yannoulis Halepas , Greek 1851-1938 the story of sleeping beauty plaster

incised with signature on the base plaster

h.: 64cm., 25¼in.

Athens, National Sculpture Gallery, Yiannoulis Halepas: Retrospective Exhibition, February - September 2007

Marinos Kalligas, Yannoulis Halepas, Athens, 1972, pp. 35, 47, 55 & 66, discussed; p. 88, catalogued; nos. 132-34, illustrated (as La Belle au bois dormant IV)

Estate of the artist
Private Collection, Athens

Executed in 1932, The subject of the present work is the story of La Belle au bois dormant (Sleeping Beauty). A fairy tale written by the French writer Charles Perrault in 1697. The many subsequent variants published include that of the Brothers Grimm of 1812. The subject of Sleeping Beauty was treated by Halepas as early in his career as 1874, and the present work, executed six years before his death, would be the final demonstration of this fascination.

Halepas depicts the moment at which the princess, cursed to sleep for one hundred years, is awakened by a passing prince, struck by her beauty. The artist captures the calm that pervades the princess' cursed kingdom, heavy with slumber. The Prince's kiss occurs at the pinnacle of the triangular form, a small cherub, symbol of love, is seated discreetly beneath the lovers.

This sculpture was executed in the final, third phase of Halepas' life when he was living with his niece and nephew Irene and Basile Halepas in Athens in 1930. The artist's isolation and celibacy, was a consequence of his physical and mental health, and added a certain longing and intensity to works such as the present. The voluptuousness of the princess is tempered by the tenderness with which the prince embraces her.