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Music, ca. 1869
Henri Chapu (French, 1833–1891)
Terracotta; Diam. 12 5/8 in. (32 cm)
Inscribed: au docteur Delechamps; signed: Chapu
Purchase, Mrs. Sid R. Bass Gift, in honor of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, and Rogers Fund, 2001 (2001.4)

Description

Chapu was a Second Empire sculptor with rare lyric gifts. His young winged genius bows the violin before a cityscape that represents Thebes, the walls of which were said to have been raised to the strains of a lyre played by Amphion, the diminutive figure seated at right. The imagery thus unites the harmonies of music and architecture. This terracotta is the model for one of six silvered-bronze reliefs, allegories of the arts, that were destined for the drawing room of a house built by Chapu's architect friend Paul Sédille. Located in Paris on the boulevard Magenta, it was completed in 1870.

(Entry written by James David Draper)

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