BRONZE REPRESENTING THE LIVRE D'OR, Signed MATHURIN MOREAU (1822–1912)

BRONZE REPRESENTING THE LIVRE D'OR, Signed MATHURIN MOREAU (1822–1912)
Brown-patinated bronze and marble.
Figure of a winged woman writing in a book resting on a column in green Maurin marble.
Signed MATH MOREAU and bearing the foundry stamp of the Société des bronzes de Paris.

About the artist: Mathurin Moreau was a French sculptor working in the traditional academic style of the 19th century. Born in Dijon on 18 November 1822, he was the son of the celebrated sculptor Jean-Baptiste Moreau. In 1841 he entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and, the following year, won the Second Grand Prix de Rome with his sculpture Diodème enlevant le Palladium. Several of his works are on public display in Paris, including Cologne on the façade of the Gare du Nord, L'Océanie in the courtyard of the Musée d'Orsay, and Zénobe Gramme at the Père Lachaise cemetery. In 1897 he received the Medal of Honour at the Salon de Paris and was elected mayor of the 19th arrondissement, a position he held until his death on 14 February 1912.