Bronze Subject "figaro" Signed Clément Léopold Steiner (1853-1899)

Figaro. Bronze proof with nuanced dark brown patina. Old edition font signed. Belle Epoque Period. Figaro, who says his first name is “Anonyme1”, is a character invented by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais at the end of the 18th century and whom he features in three of his plays, as a hero: The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro and The Guilty Mother. Character of the Sevillian people, lively, sentimental, enthusiastic, insolent, he has been since his creation, more than two hundred years ago, a popular and sympathetic hero, even pathetic and dramatic. He often arrives too late to prevent the irreparable, but he is the witness and catalyst of the whole story - "Figaro-this, Figaro-there" -. He is the lover, the go-between, the talker, the twirling servant, but also the clumsy simpleton, the provocative histrionic and finally the resigned valet. He was a harbinger of the themes of the French Revolution. The origin of the name is perhaps linked to the very name of the author: in fact, Beaumarchais was born Caron, and his creature, his “spiritual son”, would be the “son Caron”, who became Figaro.