Nymph and the Amalthée goat, cast-iron statue from Val d'Oosne 19th century

Nymphe et la chèvre Amalthée (Nymph and the Amalthea goat), an important 19th-century cast-iron group signed du val d'osne.
Perfect condition, beautiful patina

Height 1m20
Width 70 cm
Weight : 150-200 kg

Statue Based on the carved Carrara marble statue by Pierre Julien (1731-1804), commissioned in 1785, it was completed in 1787 and presented in Queen Marie-Antoinette's dairy at Rambouillet. It decorated the interior of a grotto set in a pavilion decorated with bas-reliefs by the same sculptor. The original was seized during the French Revolution and exhibited in the Louvre from 1829. The same museum also preserves the sculptor's terracotta sketch.

The same statue, also in cast iron and signed by Val d'Osne, can be found in Chile's Parque Isadora Cousiño, and in Nice's Domaine Universitaire de Valrose, Avenue Valrose.

Amalthea is the nurturing mother of Zeus. She is sometimes depicted as a goat suckling the infant god in a cave on Crete, and more frequently as a nymph giving him a goat's milk to drink. The goat having broken a horn, Zeus offered it to Amalthea, promising that the horn would miraculously fill with flowers and fruit: this is the horn of plenty. The skin of this same goat was later used to make Zeus' armor, the aegis. The god placed Amalthea and the animal among the stars