Jean-Marie Boucher, Venus and Cupid Marble Statue, White Marble, Romantic, 1910

Jean-Marie Boucher, Venus and Cupid Marble Statue, White Marble, Romantic, c. 1910

Jean Boucher finely detailed marble sculpture on an impressive marble pedestal base. Plaque on base inscribed: VENUS AND CUPID / JEAN-MARIE BOUCHER

Sculpture 39 3/4 Wide by 30 3/8 in. High 15" Deep.
Base 24" by 24" by 36" Wide

Provenance: A Greenwich CT Gentleman

Sotheby's London: 19th & 20th Century Sculpture, 12 December 2018 / London Lot 64.
Estimate: 40,000 – 60,000 GBP

Jean Boucher was a student of several important French sculptors of the 19th century, including Chapu, Falguière and Mercié. He was mostly known for his Romantic sculptures, and exhibited frequently at the Paris salon. He received several medals and awards for his sculptures, and was made an officer of the Légion d'honneur in 1914. Public works by Jean Boucher include a monument to Victor Hugo on Guernsey. A few versions of the present composition have appeared on the market in the past decades. Firstly, a signed bronze of the model, formerly in Whixley Hall, North Yorkshire, was sold at Phillips, 30 November 1994, lot 142. Variations in marble, both unsigned, as is the present lot, were sold in these rooms on 26 November 1996, lot 174, and at Christie's, 15 May 1997, lot 431. The present marble is a fine example of Boucher's accomplished Romanticism.

RELATED LITERATURE: E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, vol. 2, Grund, 1999, p. 625