Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu

French, 1833 - 1891

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The sculpture depicts a seated figure of a woman draped in flowing garments, intricately carved to appear as though she is lifting a part of her drapery. She is seated on what resembles a bench, with a visual relief of a smaller figure in the background. The monochromatic sculpture is made of white marble. The woman is adorned with delicate features and a braided hairstyle, and the details in the drapery are meticulously rendered. At the bottom left of the sculpture, there are a couple of books layered, incorporated into the base. The sculpture appears to be slightly raised against a rectangular marble slab.
Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu, La Pensée, 1877/1891, marble, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund, 1986.27.1

La Pensée

Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu · 1877/1891 · marble ·  Accession ID  1986.27.1

Bibliography

1894

  • Fidière, Octave. Chapu. Sa Vie et son oeuvre. Paris, 1894.

1914

  • Lami, Stanislas. Dictionnaire des sculpteurs de l'école française au dix-neuvième siècle. 4 vols. Paris, 1914-1921: 1(1914):328-342.

1991

  • Centenaire Henri Chapu. Exh. cat. Musée Henri Chapu and Musée de Melun. Melun, 1991.

2000

  • Butler, Ruth, and Suzanne Glover Lindsay, with Alison Luchs, Douglas Lewis, Cynthia J. Mills, and Jeffrey Weidman. European Sculpture of the Nineteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 87.