Prosper d'Epinay (1836-1914) Le cyclone
Alabaster, signed and entitled on the base.
H 53 cm
Born into a family of French origin in Mauritius that became English in 1814, the artist Prosper d'Epinay enjoyed a cosmopolitan and worldly career in Rome, London and Paris. He first studied in Paris with the portrait painter and caricaturist Jean-Pierre Dantan, known as Dantan le Jeune, from 1857 to 1860. Like all artists of the time, he made a study trip to Italy, and in 1864 he settled in Rome where he opened a studio that he kept until 1912. In Italy, he perfected his training with the Roman masterpieces under the aegis of the sculptor Luigi Amici. The presentation of his work 'Ceinture dorée', an ideal representation of the modern woman, at the Salon of 1874, helped to propel him to the forefront of fashionable statuary. This success encouraged him to move to Paris. In 1878, he also opened a studio there. Integrated
into the most prestigious Parisian and European circles, he produced not
only portraits influenced by 18th century art, but also
figures combining Hellenistic style and modern realism
in the manner of his elder James Pradier. His works were exhibited
at the Salon but also at the Royal Academy from 1865 to 1878 and at the Cercle de l'Union artistique from 1880 to 1914. There he met with great success and
was much appreciated by the European nobility, who commissioned
many portraits or and more decorative sculptures that adorned
the palaces of the high aristocracy. His works can thus be found in the Russian imperial collections, the Italian, French and English courts. During his numerous journeys between Europe and the Indian Ocean, he had the opportunity to capture and study the different populations with a sharp ethnographic eye.
