C19th French Bronze Statue of "Mercury" After Jean-baptiste Pigalle.

C19th French bronze statue of "Mercury" after Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. This well-cast reduction of Pigalle's most celebrated work shows the messenger to the Gods fastening his winged sandals ("talaria") in order to take flight, whilst resting on a cloud.

Jean-Baptiste Pigalle(1714-1785)became one of the most celebrated sculptors in France during the Rococo period of the eighteenth century. Pigalle studied in Rome before returning to France where he sculpted this original small version of "Mercury" in 1741 from marble and he gained admission to the French Academy of Fine Arts in Paris in 1744.Subsequently in 1752 Pigalle was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Academy and received a number of royal commissions.

The marble sculpture is now in the Musee du Louvre ,Paris, whilst its terracotta model resides in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Versions of this iconic image exist in some of the greatest collections of the world, Waddesdon Manor as owned by the Rothschild dynasty being one .

This greenish-brown patinated bronze version , shows "Mercury" leaning down to fasten his wings while gazing upwards to the Heavens, his caduceus laid down by his feet.

H 13"

W 8".

France c. 1870

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