LAURENT DELVAUX (1696-1778) - Lot 76

LAURENT DELVAUX (1696-1778) The Hercules from the Palace of Charles de Lorraine (1768-1770), second model Terra cotta with bronzine patina H: 27 cm Related works : -Laurent Delvaux, Hercule du Palais de Charles de Lorraine, 1768-1770, marble, H. 288 cm, signed and dated twice Laur. Delvaux. 1770, Brussels, Palais de Charles de Lorraine (formerly part of the Musées Royaux des Beaux_x0002_Arts de Belgique, anc. Inv. N°9830 ; -Laurent Delvaux, Hercules after the antique Hercules Farnese, terracotta statuette, ca. 1768, London, Victoria and Albert museum, n°inv. A.56-1930. Bibliography: -Alain Jacobs, Laurent Delvaux (1696-1778), Arthena, Paris, 1999, described under no. S269, p.458. Provenance: Anne-Françoise Delvaux - Anne-Françoise Delvaux (1740-1786), daughter of the sculptor, Nivelles - Julie Baugniet (1780-1858), his daughter, Nivelles - Nestor Fievet (1820-1895), his son, Brussels -Louise Fievet (1846-1907), daughter, Brussels -Marie-Thérèse Bricourt (1870-1955), daughter, Brussels, wife of Jules t'Serstevens -By descent The spectacular marble Hercules is one of the most well-documented works from the vast commission given to the artist at the end of his career, for the Palace of Charles-Alexandre de Lorraine between 1763 and 1770. Several preparatory works have been preserved: three terracotta models of the full-length figure, two head studies and a study of the boar. The artist's specialist Alain Jacobs, in his 1999 catalog raisonné, considers this barely sketched model, covered with a bronze patina, to be the second model. The work has remained in the artist's family to this day.