Offered by La Sculpture Françoise
Still little known, Louis Delaville is one of the most endearing sculptors of the turn of the century. At a time of domination of a martial neo-classicism nourished by obscure references to an antiquity often fantasized, Delaville, yet a pupil of Louis Boizot and Jacques-Louis David at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, revives the picturesque moment of the years 1770-1780s. In modeled and baked earth, it gives life to a whole people of sympathetic and romantic characters, which one could believe out of the paintings of his contemporary Louis-Leopold Boilly, if they were not from a more modest world. .
"Around 1800, Delaville worked in the capital with a potter who housed him in an attic in the rue Mazarine. In the evening, he made his terracotta statuettes which he sold to make some money."
Our charming couple represents a young harvester and his sweet friend, allowing themselves a break from working in the fields. The first carries his hoe as well as a cane, and the second holds the crop against her in a fold of clothing.
Good condition. Restorations, especially to the young woman's left hand and the young man's hoe. Slight accidents.
Both signed and dated Delaville f. 1805
Height: 32 cm and 34 cm
Width and depth: about 11 cm
Weight: 2 Kg each
