Description
Carpeaux produced three different versions of l’Espérance. Probably with a view to making a statue of Joan of Arc, the sculptor first considered a half-length figure including arms, hands clasped, entitled La Prière, the original plaster of which is in the Musée du Petit Palais (Inv. PPS1542). A second version, signed and dated 1869, shows l’Espérance looking upwards, her hair tied and braided forming two buns behind her ears (marble, Ochse Collection). In the last variant, ours, l’Esperance wears her hair in long curls, a crown of lilies around her head. The original plaster cast is now at the Glyptothek in Copenhagen.
The Carpeaux sales of 1872-1874 included a total of 6 marbles of this subject, among them a sculpture signed and dated 1869, offered in the atelier sale of December 20, 1873. Our marble is therefore an extremely rare example made during the artist’s lifetime. A similar example, also signed and dated 1873, was sold at the Fabius Frères Collection sale in October 2011.
In her book devoted to the work of her illustrious father, Louise-Clément Carpeaux relates that “to decide more surely on the movement of this figure and the luminous gaze raised towards the sky, he established a first study including the torso and arms” (opus cit., page 209). What is striking about this marble, apart from its expressive quality, is the playful plasticity of the hair and forms, which give the impression of having been carved with a chisel or file.
Carpeaux, who was engaged to Amélie de Montfort at the time, probably took inspiration from her to create this strikingly similar-looking bust.
