Sculpture on Consignment

Artist:  GAUDEZ, Adrien Étienne  (FRENCH, 1845-1902) 

Title: L’Étoile du Matin  (Morning Star)

Date:  late 19thC 

Medium:  cast bronze with yellow-brown patina

Dimensions:  35 inches high, including base; 15 inches across widest point

Weight: Around 40 lbs.

Born in Lyon and trained in Paris, Gaudez made his debut at the Paris Salon in 1864.   His early bronzes were mostly of a classical nature, like this example of the Morning Star.   By the time of its casting, Gaudez had already won the "Grand Prix" at the Salon, which meant he could enter any future work he wished at the annual art competition held by the French Academy.  Evidence of that singular accomplishment can be found in the signature on the base.  There, Gaudez adds the designation, "Hors de Concours," or "Beyond the Competition."

A comely female figure alights momentarily on a hemispherical base, landing softly on the ball of her left foot.  Her flowing garments cling tightly to her shapely form, one worthy of Venus, the Morning Star.  Her heavenly identity is reinforced by signs of the zodiac, appearing in a ribbon of very low relief images across the base.  The statue is typical of that produced to satisfy the bourgeois tastes of the growing middle class of late nineteenth-century Europe.

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