Music
Chapu was a Second Empire sculptor with rare lyric gifts. His young winged genius bows the violin before a cityscape that represents Thebes, whose walls were said to have been raised to the strains of Amphion's lyre; he is the diminutive figure at right. The imagery thus unites the harmonies of music and architecture. This is the model for one of six silvered bronze reliefs; allegories of the arts, that were destined for the drawing room of Chapu's architect friend, Paul Sédille; his Paris house in the Boulevard Magenta was completed in 1870.
Artwork Details
- Title: Music
- Artist: Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu (French, Mée-sur-Seine, Seine-et-Marne 1833–1891 Paris)
- Date: ca. 1869
- Culture: French
- Medium: Terracotta
- Dimensions: Diameter: 12 5/8 in. (32.1 cm)
- Classification: Sculpture
- Credit Line: Purchase, Mrs. Sid R. Bass Gift, in honor of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, and Rogers Fund, 2001
- Object Number: 2001.4
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu
1882
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Thiébaut frères
after 1890
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1891
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
1864
Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse
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