Late 18th century school after Michel Anguier (1612 - 1686) - Lot 48

Late 18th century school after Michel Anguier (1612 - 1686) Quiet Amphitrite White marble H. 103 cm Wear and small chips If Michel Anguier is one of the custodians of the great style of Versailles sculpture inspired by François Girardon (1628-1715), he is also undoubtedly at the origin of the diffusion and craze for independent bronze statuettes, a type of work he had the opportunity to admire in Italy. This art of the small amateur bronze, until then reserved for church decorations, developed in part thanks to the critical and commercial success of the famous Cycle des dieux et des déesses, including the Amphitrite tranquille, designed by Anguier shortly after his return from Rome. Amphitrite holds a crayfish in her arm, which, according to Piganiol de la Force, "marks the authority she had over [the ocean]". Her smiling, almost amused tranquility as the crustacean moves on her arm, and her serene expression, probably explain why this model remained in favor until the end of the 18th century. Unusually, the bronze version was enlarged, and in 1680 served as the model for a marble statue created by Nicolas Massé for the gardens of Versailles (inv. MR1753, on deposit at the Louvre).