“one Hour Of The Night” By Joseph Michel-ange Pollet

Bronze statuette with nuanced medal patina, published towards the end of the 19th century (between 1890 and 1900) signed on the base and with its E.COLIN Paris cast iron stamp. Careful carving and presence of tracking monograms, very beautiful presentation. Joseph Pollet presented this dreamlike allegory in the appearance of a young woman rising in the clouds, at the Salon of 1850 (original in marble) under the title "an hour of the night", a bronze copy was exhibited during the 'Universal Exhibition of 1855. On these models appeared two cherubs on the base which suggest that the sculptor had been inspired by the series of 12 gouaches produced a few years earlier (which achieved great success) known under the title "the hours by Raphael. Joseph Michel-Ange Pollet was born in 1814 in Palermo (Italy) to French parents. Trained by famous master sculptors such as Valério Villareale, Berthel Thorvaldsen and Pietro Ténérani, he is imbued with neoclassical style and romanticism. Making numerous trips to Europe, he settled permanently in France in 1848. His talent recognized, he received important commissions and became one of the great sculptors of the Second Empire, notably with the busts of Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie. In 1856 he was named knight of the Legion of Honor.