Bust in white Carrara marble on an associated white marble plinth.

This massive bust was conceived, along with a plaster version, circa 1858.  According to a contemporary sale catalogue marked by Robert Wenley, currently held at the Wallace Collection, London, the bust was sold to Mr A J Walker who also made other purchases, including Femme Grecque de Missolonghi (Greek Woman of Missolonghi) the pendant for the present work.  The sale took place at  Foster’s  Auction House on 8th May 1861 (Lot 38, page 10, Catalogue of the Cordier Gallery of Sculpture, Comprising Sixty-eight original works in Marble and Bronze).  The sale followed Cordier’s own highly acclaimed ethnographic sculpture exhibition at the Ethnological Gallery, Pall Mall, London in the same year (exhibit 19). 

Charles Henri Joseph Cordier was one of the most innovative sculptors of the 19th Century.  His unique oeuvre is distinquished by a fascination with ethnography and a mastery of colour.  Many of the illustrious collectors of his time were devoted patrons including Napoleon III, the Empress Eugenie, Baron James de Rothschild and Queen Victoria, who treasured Cordier’s distinctive work.  Cordier’s extraordinary vision was evident from his very first exhibit at the Paris Salon of 1848.  His bust of Said Abdullah of the Darfour Tribe was ordered in bronze by the French Government.  The vogue for Orientalist subjects was strong and Cordier went on to create many popular busts and figures in this genre.

Cordier took a keen interest in European national types and costumes.  In 1851 he was given the post of ethnographic sculptor to the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle, a post he held for 15 years.  During this time he made Government sponsored tours of Italy, Algeria, Greece and Egypt.  He left for Greece (via Italy) on 16th April 1858 with an allowance of  700 francs a month and letters of introduction from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.  He travelled for eight months taking in Rome, Naples, Athens, Attica, the Peloponnese and the Cyclades.  As Trapadoux, the writer of Cordier’s 1860 catalogue recalled , young women were happy to sit for a young French sculptor charged by his government to study Italian and Greek beauty and record the most remarkable types. The result was a stunning series of models that recorded the beauties of various regions of Italy and Greece.

Various contemporary reviews refer to the imperious, proud demeanour of this sitter who displays “more strength than tenderness”.  Cordier faithfully reflects this Roman type in his work and the woman was clearly identified  as an inhabitant of the Trastevere area of Rome where it is believed that the descendents of imperial Rome can still be found.  A remarkable, rare and important work of international cultural interest.

Signed: Cordier

Height: 39.5 inches (100.5 cm)

Condition:  Outstanding original condition

Exhibited: Anthropological Gallery, Palais de l’Industrie, Paris 1860

Provenance: From a private New York collection

References:

Charles Cordier: L’autre et l’ailleurs [Catalogue Musée d’Orsay, Paris, 2004] pp 201, 202, photograph at catalogue number 453.

Trapadoux: L’Oeuvre de Charles Cordier, galerie anthropologique, pour servir à l’histoire des races [Paris 1860] pp 21-22.

La Gazette Rose, 1860.

Art Journal, 1861