Monumental Antique French Bronze Sculpture Statue Cupid & Marble Ormolu Pedestal by Antoine-Denis Chaudet, 1870

An incredible antique 19th century French bronze of Cupid seated on a gilt ormolu marble column, cupid shown feeding rose to a butterfly (L'Amour Prenant un Papillon) after Antoine-Denis Chaudet (1763–1810), circa 1870.

The plaster for Cupid or L'Amour was exhibited at the Salon of 1802, it was well received, but unfortunately, Chaudet was unable to complete the marble version. After his death in 1810, however, Pierre Cartellier, a friend of long standing, completed the marble at the request of Chaudet's widow. Exhibited at the Salon of 1817 and bought by the State for 12,000 francs, L'Amour was first exhibited at Versailles at the Grand Trianon and was moved to the Louvre in about 1850. Although the original plaster is now lost, the Soyer foundry first cast a bronze version in 1824 and exhibited the bronze in that year. The symbolism of the action of the figure of Love offering a rose to a butterfly is that of love beguiling the soul in search of pleasure.

The bronze stands on the original tall dark green Italian veined marble column, with a gilded bronze Corinthian capital with acanthus leaf motifs, the base of the column having a gilt bronze laurel wreath cuff above a square marble plinth.
The bronze stands majestically on the column, both the column and bronze are in excellent condition. The same size bronze sold at Sotheby's New York on January 29th 2010, for $50,000, the sale price was just for the sculpture there was no column present.
This exquisite bronze statue and column are ready to grace your space, similar columns have sold independently for over $10,000, an almost identical column sold at Sotheby's London July 14th 2021 for 10,080 GBP ($13,300)

Artist's Biography
Antoine-Denis Chaudet (1763–1810) was a French sculptor who worked in the neoclassical style. He was born and died in Paris.
He began his artistic training as a student of Jean-Baptiste Stouf at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. In 1784 his bas-relief, Joseph Sold into Slavery by His Brothers, was awarded the Prix-de-Rome. This enabled him to study at the French Academy in Rome, where he spent four years studying ancient sculpture.
On his return to France in 1789, he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. In 1801 he took part in illustrating an edition of the collected works of Jean Racine, published by Firmin Didot. Most of these were Biblical scenes. Around that same time, he married one of his students, Jeanne-Elisabeth Gabiou. He also collaborated with Pierre-Francois-Leonard Fontaine and Charles Percier on architectural projects.
In 1805, he became a member of the Institute of France. In February 1810, he took the post of Professor-Rector at the École des Beaux-Arts, replacing Louis-Jean-Francois Lagrenée, who had died several years before. He died himself, only two months later. He was interred at the Montparnasse Cemetery. The Louvre holds collections of his sketches and manuscript notes.
In 1812, Napoleon transported Chaudet's marble statue of him to Moscow, to install it in a prominent place there. It is currently on display at the Borodino Panorama Museum.

Dimensions of Bronze & Statue Separately 
Bronze Statue                  Pedestal
Height 19.25"                    Height 49.25"
Width 13"
Depth 13"

Imperial

68.5 inches high × 14 inches wide × 14 inches deep

Metric

high × wide x deep

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