Jean-Baptiste CARPEAUX (1827-1875)

The Neapolitan Laugher n°1 Model created in 1863. Bust in terracotta. Signed JBte Carpeaux and stamped PROPRIÉTÉ CARPEAUX with the imperial eagle on the side of the pedestal (soiling, chips on the pedestal). H: 52 cm Related work: Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Le Rieur napolitain, plaster, H. 53 cm, Valenciennes, musées des Beaux-Arts, inv. 98.26.9. Related literature: Michel Poletti, Alain Richarme, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, sculpteur. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre édité, Paris, Les Expressions contemporaines, 2003, model listed under no. BU43, p. 145. For the model of this Neapolitan Laugher, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux adapted in 1863 his Pêcheur à la coquille (Fisherman with a shell) made in Rome in 1857. The work was inspired by the memory of a young boy he had met on a Neapolitan beach a year earlier. The terracotta edition of this bust was produced by the sculptor's studio from 1868 to 1874. Due to its commercial success, it was then continued by the family after the artist's death, and finally by the Susse company from 1920.