Giuseppe CERACCHI (1751-1801) - Lot 64

Lot n° 64
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Estimation :
3000 - 5000 EUR
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Result : 46 584EUR
Giuseppe CERACCHI (1751-1801) - Lot 64
Giuseppe CERACCHI (1751-1801) General Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte (1763-1844) Model created around 1800 Bust in plaster with an imitation bronze patina (Worn patina, accidents and small chips.) Height Height : 80 cm In the neoclassical vein at the turn of the 19th century, this bust of General Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, future King of Sweden and Norway, was executed by Giuseppe Ceracchi, an Italian artist with a European career and a sulphurous public life. Born in Rome into a family of goldsmiths, Giuseppe Ceracchi was awarded First Prize in sculpture at the distinguished Accademia di San Luca in 1771, before embarking on a cosmopolitan career that took him between Italy, London, the United Provinces, Vienna, Paris and even the United States of America. After his various stays in Europe and two trips to America, he became a renowned and appreciated portraitist, having executed the most famous figures of revolutionary Europe and the New World. Exiled from Rome after the Jacobin Republic, the artist returned to Paris and, between 1799 and 1800, executed a new series of portraits of French generals and political figures, including Bernadotte. Compromised in an attempt on the First Consul's life, the sculptor was arrested and guillotined in 1801. While in prison, Ceracchi wrote several more letters to Citizen Bernadotte, then Councillor of State, to obtain payment of the sum due for the execution of his bust, one of the last of his career. Born in Pau in 1763, Bernadotte rose from the rank of non-commissioned officer to that of major general in 1794, after the Flanders and Rhine campaigns. He then served in Italy before being appointed ambassador to Vienna and Minister of War in 1799. When his portrait was painted around 1799/1800, he was a leading political figure. A republican military leader and general, he was an influential enough political figure to attract Ceracchi's interest. Fascinated by the French Revolution from the outset, Ceracchi excelled in heroic iconography. Our bust belongs fully to this aesthetic of ancient exaltation: the idealized naked torso, the draped shoulder, the "Titus"-style hairstyle, the lively gaze and energetic jaws. All these anatomical details seek to elevate our man-of-war to the dignity of a Roman hero. Ceracchi's portrait of Bernadotte is known to exist in several versions with variations. Our work is a patinated plaster version of the original terracotta in Waldemarsudde Castle, Sweden. A similar example, also in patinated plaster, went on sale in 2003. Two variants of the bust of the future king of Sweden and Norway are also known: one as a Roman emperor is on display at the Bernadotte Museum in Pau, while the other, with its "hermes" cut-out, is said to have been preserved at the Château de Grosbois. Our rare portrait of Bernadotte, which until now has remained in the descendants of Viscount Le Jeans, bears witness to the meeting of two extraordinary personalities in revolutionary Europe: that of a cosmopolitan sculptor whose political commitment and excesses cost him his life, and that of a republican general destined for an exceptional dynastic destiny. Provenance : - Family of Viscount Le Jeans (1784-1840), son of Senator Lazare Le Jeans (or Lejeans) and Catherine Clary; affiliated with the model through the marriage of Bernadotte and Désiré Clary in 1798 and with the Bonaparte family, then by descent Related works: - Giuseppe Ceracchi, Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, circa 1800, terracotta bust, Prinz Eugen, Waldemarsudde Castle, Sweden, inv.no. W 113; - Giuseppe Ceracchi , Bust of Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte (1763-1844) , plaster bust patinated in imitation of bronze, H.80 cm, Sotheby's sale 02/12/2003, lot 29; - Giuseppe Ceracchi, Buste de Bernadotte en empereur romain, patinated plaster, H. 74 ; L. 51 ; Pau, Musée Bernadotte, n°inv.53.3.15. Related literature: -Gérard Hubert, Les Sculpteurs italiens en France sous la Révolution, l'Empire et la Restauration,1790-1830, Paris, Editions E. de Boccard, 1964, pp. 32-36; -Patrizia Masini, Giuseppe Ceracchi/: scultore giacobino, 1751-1801, cat. exp. Rome, Palazzo dei Conservatori, September 20-November 12 1989, Rome, Artemide edizioni, 1989, pp. 70-71; -Aline Magnien, "Le Sculpteur Jacobin Ceracchi (1751-1801). Papiers Inédits. Son OEuvre de Portraitiste: les Bustes", in Gazette des Beaux Arts, April 2002, vol. 139, pp. 343-366. Expert : Cabinet LACROIX-JEANNEST Part I: Thursday June 18, 2026 - Chapter 3: From a Burgundy château, memories of the Viscounts Le Jeans
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