Pietro CALVI (1833-1884) - Lot 440

Pietro CALVI (1833-1884) Important female bust in bronze and white Carrara marble resting on a marble pedestal. Signed and dated 1871 in the back H: 94 (accidents and restorations) Note: In keeping with the fashion of Orientalism in vogue in the 19th century, our bust is in line with those of the sculptor Charles Cordier. In this work presented at the 1872 Salon (the 1871 Salon could not take place because of the Franco-Prussian war), the Milanese Pietro Calvi depicts Sélika, a character from Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera " L' Africaine " (1865). Praised by commentators of the time - in the Revue des Deux mondes, Ernest Duvergier de Hauranne talks about " beauté africaine ", while in Sensations d'art, Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly is "fixed by a caress" to the sight the work - the bust of Calvi will even inspire the Parnassian poet Léon Valade who will dedicate some verses to him in La Petite anthologie du Salon of 1872 : Draping your darkness in the white wool And lascivious and a beautiful animal, You blossom without thinking of harm, Like the mocha in porcelain. Black grace! O young coloured Hebe! Laughter has swollen your beautiful breasts: If you hold from the gods this ample nostril, It's to better smell a flower scent.