Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse

L'Innocence tourmentée par les amours is believed to have been conceived by Carrier-Belleuse’s star pupil and assistant Auguste Rodin, who worked in Carrier-Belleuse's Paris studio from 1864. The present terracotta is an exceptional monumental version, measuring 142cm (56in.). It is very rare and the largest terracotta version of the model known to the cataloguer to have been sold at Sotheby's. A partially gilt bronze version of similar dimensions was sold at Sotheby's New York on 21 November 2017, lot 121.

With the advent of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the market for fine terracottas and bronzes collapsed, and Carrier-Belleuse moved to Brussels. Rodin followed, and it was in Brussels that he allegedly modeled the L'Innocence. None of the sculptures created by Rodin during this period bear his signature, making attributions difficult. However, the present model was attributed to Rodin as early as 1902 by the Belgian writer Sandor Pierron (Pierron, op. cit. p. 154). A terracotta version of this composition, just under 23 inches high, was accepted by Jérôme Le Blay as executed by Rodin in conjunction with his employer, Carrier-Belleuse, and is to be included in their forthcoming monograph on Rodin (see Sotheby’s, New York, May 6, 2015, lot 208).

RELATED LITERATURE

J. Hargrove, The Life and work of Albert Carrier Belleuse, New York, 1977; J. Hargrove and G. Grandjean, Carrier-Belleuse. Le maïtre de Rodin, exh. cat. Palais de Compiègne, Paris, 2014, pp. 124-126, p. 113, no. 76