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f - FRANÇOIS RUDE FRENCH, 1784-1855 NAPOLÉON S'ÉVEILLANT À L'IMMORTALITÉ (NAPOLÉON AWAKENING TO IMMORTALITY)

inscribed and dedicated: Rude: Napoleon s'eveillant a l'imortalité / Louvre. Copi pour Sigurd Rier par Gunnar Utsönd / Paris 1898 with the E.GRUET JEUNE FONDEUR. 44^BIS AVENUE DE CHATILLON. PARIS cachet

bronze, light brown patina

CATALOGUE NOTE

The present bronze is a reduction of what Hargrove has described as one of Rude's greatest works. Commissioned by Captain Claude Noisot, formerly commandant of Elba, the 2.5m. original was executed without fee by Rude and cast by Eck & Durand 1845-47. Through powerful quasi-religious imagery, the highly charged personal feelings of the two men are revealed. Indeed the original inscription bears the personal dedication 'To Napoleon. Noisot, Grenadier of the Isle of Elba and Rude, sculptor'. Both their busts were erected nearby. Rude claimed it was 'not a piece of historical sculpture; it is the echo of an emotion felt by us', for it was not intended for public display but rather as a private monument, unveiled on Noisot's estate in Fixin, near Dijon. Napoleon is shown in apotheosis, rising from the rocks of Elba under his shroud-like military cape.
Rude's initial plaster sketch in the musée Noisot was cast in bronze by Thiébaut frères for the musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon. The full size plaster was purchased by the state in 1891 for the Louvre and is now in the Musée d'Orsay.
The interesting dedication identifies the Norwegian sculptor Gunnar Utsond (1864-1950) who presumably ordered the cast to be made by the Paris foundry E. Gruet Jeune. It is probably a unique cast.

RELATED LITERATURE
Romantics to Rodin pp.25, 351, fig.12; Lami vol.4, p.213; Musée d'Orsay p.241