Style Other / Ref.13572

Auguste CLESINGER, "Zingara", bronze sculpture cast by Barbedienne, 1869

Dimensions:
Width: 16'' ⅛  41cm
Height: 53'' ⅛  135cm
Depth: 17'' ¾  45cm

Origin:
19th century.

Status:
Good condition.

This bronze sculpture was cast by the Barbedienne foundry from a plaster model made by Auguste Clésinger (1814 - 1883) in 1858 and presented in the Salon of 1859.

Auguste Clésinger is a French sculptor and paintor, son of the sculptor Georges Clésinger with who he studies the art of sculpting in Roma when he was 18 years old. In Roma, Clésinger follow the teaching of Thorwaldsen. He comes back to France and especially in Paris in 1838 to follow his study and enters the following year in the workshop of the sculptor David d'Angers.
He travels a lot in the 1840's between Switzerland and Italia before marrying the daughter of Georges Sand in 1847. He exhibits for the first time in the Salon of Paris in 1843 and continues during all his career to regularly send his work. He wins in 1846 a third class medal, the following year a second class medal thanks to his famous sculpture "Femme piquée par le serpent", and in 1848, a first class medal for his sculpture "Bacchante couchée". Following this, he is decorated with the Légion d'Honneur in 1849. He also signs an exclusivity contract with the Barbedienne foundry which will present bronze reductions of some of his sculptures including "Zingara".

Thus, Clésinger makes a sculpture untitled Zingara also meaning the bohemian. A young woman is depicting dressed with a tunic with excessive drapery and attired with many jewels, dancing to the sound of her tambourin that she holds in her left hand. Our bronze reduction, of which a similar model is kept in the Musée d'Orsay, also wears an inscription saying "Souvenir of the workers, to Mr Auguste Desgenetais 4 september 1869".

Auguste Desgenetais (1821 - 1882) lead a cotton factory in Bolbec in Normandy, which was significantly extended in the 1870's. When the director died, 800 workers were employed. In the 1960's, the factory was renamed Comptoir industriel du Coton. The main building was destroyed in a fire in 1997, but the director house was kept.

sold