New Époque: Adrian Alan - Selected Works

New Époque: Adrian Alan - Selected Works

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 55. RAOUL FRANÇOIS LARCHE | DOULEUR D'ORESTE (ORESTES' SORROW).

RAOUL FRANÇOIS LARCHE | DOULEUR D'ORESTE (ORESTES' SORROW)

Lot Closed

October 28, 02:38 PM GMT

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

RAOUL FRANÇOIS LARCHE

French

1860 - 1912

DOULEUR D'ORESTE (ORESTES' SORROW)


signed: R. LARCHE, inscribed: SIOT-DECAUVILLE FONDEUR, stamped with the pastille SIOT-DECAUVILLE FONDEUR PARIS, with partially illegible inscriptions in Greek, and inscribed: à M=W. Waddington / Ambassadeur de France à Londres / 1883-1893 / La Colonie française

bronze, mid brown patina, on a wood base

bronze: 137cm., 54in.

base: 89cm., 35in. 


To view Shipping Calculator, please click here

This impressive, two-thirds life-size bronze of the mythological hero Orestes relates to other models by Larche which form a thoughtful commentary on the chivalric ideal and the sorrows of war. It is reminiscent of the sculptor's model Vingt Ans (Twenty Years Old), which represents a youthful soldier with a melancholic expression.


The son of Agamemnon, Orestes suffered a tragic fate in Greek myth. Upon learning of his father's murder through his mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus, he avenged Agamemnon's death by killing his mother and stepfather. As a result of his transgression, Orestes went mad and was haunted by the Furies.

The son of an ornamental sculptor, Larche entered the École des Beaux-Arts in 1878 and studied under François Jouffroy, Eugène Delaplanche and Alexandre Falguière. He was runner-up in the Prix de Rome of 1886 and exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1881 until his death. He was awarded a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 and the medal of honour in 1903. During the early part of his career Larche produced many statuettes and objets d'art, cast by the founders Siot-Decauville, of which the former were frequently sentimental in subject.


This is a rare large cast of the Orestes, which is further distinguished by its dedicatory inscription to the French Ambassador in England.