Bronze group on a marble base. Sculpture by Clodion, putti or children and the goat

Superb bronze group signed on the base by Clodion, 19th century.
A very harmonious group with a cherub holding a jug on one side, another arranging flowers in his hair, another playing music while a goat rears up as if about to dance, and the last cherub lying on the grass next to his basket with his water jug.
The base is bordered with a row of pearls.
Signature on the front right of the base.
Large base of green veined marble.
One tiny chip underneath at one corner.
A very beautiful piece.
Superb patina.
Length: 24 cm
Width: 17 cm
Height: 22.5 cm
For your information:
Claude Michel, known as Clodion, was born on December 20, 1738, in Nancy. He was the son of Thomas Michel and Anne Adam, and thus belongs to the Adam dynasty of sculptors, along with his brother Sigisbert François (1728-1811). and Pierre Joseph Michel (1737-1787). He was quickly nicknamed "Clodion," meaning "little Claude," to distinguish him from an older brother.

From 1756, he was a student at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture's model school, lodging with his uncle, Lambert Sigisbert Adam. Upon the latter's death in 1759, he became a student of Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. On September 1, 1759, he won first prize in sculpture with a bas-relief depicting Absalom having his brother Amnon killed at the feast, before becoming a resident at the Royal School for Protected Students in December 1759.
On August 6, 1762, he received his commission for the French Academy in Rome. A brilliant modeler, he created small terracotta pieces there that appealed to collectors. One of his early masterpieces is Minerva (1766), which references the antique Minerva in the Giustiniani collection.
Clodion distinguished himself by his charm and elegance, both as a modeler and in his marble carving. In 1766, he received a commission for a marble group for the Duke of La Rochefoucauld, and in 1768 for a Vestal Virgin for Catherine II of Russia. He decided to extend his stay in Rome beyond the three-year limit and did not leave until March 1771.
In 1773, he exhibited a selection of works at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, thus obtaining his agrégation (a competitive examination for admission to the Academy).

Between 1773 and 1774, he traveled to Rome for the second time, where he created delicate terracotta bas-reliefs.

His career took off after the accession of Louis XVI in 1774. Clodion established himself among the wealthy patrons building private mansions in the new Parisian districts. He executed important bas-reliefs for the architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, including the Triumph of Galatea.

In 1782, he created two stucco friezes for the courtyard of the Hôtel de Bourbon-Condé.

In 1778, he received his first royal commission for a seated portrait of Montesquieu, part of the series of "Great Men of France" intended to adorn the Grande Galerie of the Louvre. The twenty-seven statues created for this project were never installed.

Producing numerous light and virtuoso works until the Revolution, his clientele grew so large that he no longer needed to exhibit at the Salon until 1801. With the advent of the Revolution, he withdrew from public life.

From 1795 onward, his career revived, and during the Empire, he continued his production of brilliant terracotta sculptures, alongside prestigious, sometimes monumental, commissions.

In 1781, he married Catherine Flore Pajou (1764-1841), daughter of the sculptor Augustin Pajou and Angélique Roumier, and sister of Jacques-Augustin-Catherine Pajou; they divorced in 1794.

He died on March 28, 1814, in Paris.

Ref: V7WH4P439Z