French school circa 1800 after Jean Goujon (1510-1567) - Lot 34

French school circa 1800 after Jean Goujon (1510-1567) Caryatid Terracotta statuette H. 39 cm - D. 13.3 cm AL-EJ Missing arms Related work : -Jean Goujon, Caryatids, Paris, Palais du Louvre, salle des Caryatides. Related literature: -Pierre du Colombier, Jean Goujon, Paris, Albin Michel, 1949, pages 93 to 99, plates XXII and XXIII; -Henri Zerner, L'art de la renaissance en France, Paris, Flammarion, 2002, pages 174 to 179. This elegant terracotta statuette is a reduction, with slight variations, of one of the caryatids supporting the musicians' gallery in the Salle des Cariatides at the Louvre. These four caryatids were executed by Jean Goujon in 1550/1551 under the direction of architect Pierre Lescot. The Salle des Cariatides is one of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture in the Louvre. Originally a ballroom for the kings of France, this majestic room now houses the museum's collection of antique sculptures. The creator of our statuette takes up one of the milestones of French Renaissance statuary and interprets it with a free, light-hearted style. Our terracotta can be dated to the 1800s, and the antique inspiration of the caryatids in the Louvre clearly echoes the neo-classical trend that dominated French sculpture at the turn of the 19th century.