Pair Of Bronze Sculpure

This fascinating pair of bronzes follows the models of the French sculptor Charles-Antoine Bridan. While the child holds a small dove in his hands, which seems to have a piece of paper between his legs probably with a message, the little girl holds an empty nest in her left hand, and her face is rather sullen, perhaps because the bird has been taken from her nest. The first marble versions of Bridan were performed for Cardinal de Luynes in 1759, and a terracotta version from the sculptor's studio is located at the Musée des Beaux Arts in Chartres. The luck that this subject met is witnessed by the many bronze and marble reproductions, made for example in France by Pierre-Philippe Thomire in France (a pair of his bronze is preserved today at the Musée de Camondo in Paris (Inv. CAM 325), but also in Italy by Francesco Righetti and Carlo Albacini.