Carrara Marble Group Signed Auguste Moreau (1834-1917).

D 'HUMEUR BOUDEUSE! - La Boudeuse, Group in white Carrara statuary marble by Auguste-Louis-Mathurin Moreau (Dijon, 1834- Malherbes, 1917) appearing, seated on a rocky mound decorated with foliage and reeds, a chubby boy in the laughing face, tenderly embracing a naked girl, wearing mats and seized in an attitude both mischievous and sulky. These two children with chubby bodies are presented on a high oval base forming a plinth highlighting the undeniable charm of this graceful anecdotal subject which portrays, with freshness, a scene of childish mischief. Signed on the back of the terrace: Aug. Moreau. Undated. - Undeniably inspired by the works due to scissors by François Duquesnoy, Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, Etienne Falconnet, Claude Michel, dit Clodion and, more particularly by Jacques-François Saly (La Boudeuse, 1750) which were renewed during the 18th century vision focused on early childhood, this group with restrained naivety and smiling staging in some fictitious rural environment, two children playing games, illustrates the seductive and light art of these notorious predecessors. In love with the pleasant evocations of the century of Madame de Pompadour, many statuaries (one will quote among others, Benoit Rougelet, known as Bénédict, 1834-1894) devoted themselves to it with jubilation. Throughout his abundant career, Auguste Moreau loved to model, alongside subjects with allegorical or symbolic resonance treated in an equally graceful and spirited style, these childish motifs whose liveliness and playfulness were still appreciated in the 1900s. . Treated with an invoice combining according to the critics of the time, "naturalism", "sober elegance of lines", "pure forms" and "delicately nuanced model", his "childish, graceful and smiling groups" were in fact declined in various materials (bronze, biscuit). Just like in the 18th century, these adorned boudoirs or felted interiors of Neo-Louis XV taste then very fashionable. Although undated, this work appears to have been designed and executed around the years 1880--1881: of a similar model and iconography are the Mutinous Kiss (marble), his exquisite Enfants Égarés (bronze) or La Mutinerie et La Teasing (small bronzes forming a pendant) presented at the Salon des Artistes Français. - Firmly supported by a pyramidal construction, this group presents a composition marked by simplicity and harmony. The naive nudity of these full-bodied bodies, the ingenious pivoting of the busts, the supple and tender interlacing of the legs and arms, the playful precision of the gestures, the softness of the faces are enlivened by the sober treatment of the details as well as by the appeal. to a frank modeling orchestrating the composition in large surfaces, thus letting the light glide. The soft translucence specific to Carrara marble contributes to the effect of gaiety and freshness sought for this childish scene treated with elegance and subtlety.