Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
French, 1827–1875
The Three Graces
1872
The Graces, often three in number, were goddesses who represented such qualities as charm, beauty, and creativity. This small bronze is based on a monumental sculpture Carpeaux designed for the exterior of the Palais Garnier, home of the Paris Opera. The bolts on the figures’ limbs indicate that this was a bronze caster’s model, which could be assembled to produce multiple versions of the original. Such models were not intended for display and this one has a roughly finished surface that bears the artist’s tool marks.
| Medium | bronze |
| Dimensions | 32 x 19 5/8 x 17 in. (81.3 x 49.8 x 43.2 cm) |
| Object Number | 1955.976 |
| Acquisition | Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955 |
| Status | On View |
Image Caption
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, The Three Graces, 1872, bronze. Clark Art Institute, 1955.976
Select Bibliography
Cambridge (MA): Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University.. Metamorphoses in 19th-Century Sculpture. Nov. 19, 1975-Jan. 7, 1976, Cat. ed. Jeanne L. Wasserman, Harvard University Press, 1975.
Brooke, David S. Bouguereau's "Nymphs & Satyr," The Biography of a Painting. Exhibition brochure. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1985.
Lovett, Jennifer. A Romance with Realism: The Art of Jean Baptiste Carpeaux. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine CLark Art Institute, 1989.
Lovett, Jennifer Gordon. The Art and Craft of Nineteenth-Century Sculpture. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1994.
Stanislas Lami.. Dictionnaire des Sculpteurs de l'Ecole Français au Dix-Neuvième Siécle.. Paris: n.p.. 1914; repr. Kraus Reprint, 1970..
Ernest Chesneau.. Le Statuaire J.-B. Carpeaux: Sie Vie et Son Oeuvre.. Paris: A. Quantin.. 1880..
Paris: Exposition Universelle de 1900.. Catalogue Officiel Illustré de l'Exposition Centennale.. Reprt. New York: Garland Publishing.. 1981..
Léon Riotor.. Les Grands Artistes: Carpeaux.. Paris: Librairie Renouard.. [1906]..
Paris: Galerie Manzi-Joyant.. First Atelier Sale: J.-B. Carpeaux.. May 30, 1913..
Louise Clément-Carpeaux.. La Vérité sur l'oeuvre et la vie de J.-B. Carpeaux.. Paris: Dusset & Bigerelle.. 1934..
Nice: Musée des Ponchettes.. J.-B. Carpeaux 1827-1875.. 1956..
Anonymous. "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums: Oct.Dec. 1957." Art Quarterly 21, no. 1 (Spring 1958).
Haavard Rostrup.. Modern Sculpture: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.. Copenhagen: Moderne Afdeling.. 1964..
Paris: Grand Palais.. Sur les traces de Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux.. March 11-May 5, 1975..
"Acquisitions of Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Art by Museums." The Burlington Magazine 119, no. 896 (November 1977): 8025.
Anonymous. "La Chronique des Arts." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 91, no. 1310 (supplement, March 1978): 1–100.
