Daniel Katz Ltd (View more items from this dealer)

Old Master Sculpture and Paintings, ranging from the Medieval Period to the 19th Century, including Renaissance Bronzes, 18th Century Terracotta and Marble, and 19th Century Plaster Models

13 Old Bond Street
London W1S 4SX
United Kingdom

Go to dealer's website

Locate on map

Terracotta

18 cm high (7 in.)

Comparative literature:
- Playing with fire. European terracotta models, 1740-1840, exhib. cat. by James D. Draper and Guilhem Scherf, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, January-April 2004, cat. 132

Mme de Sermezy was a pupil of Chinard (1756-1813) around 1800. She favoured small terracotta groups inspired by antique themes in her early career and later on developed an interest for works with subjects taken from daily life, the theatre and Troubadour art. Her small terracotta statuettes and groups were always placed on an integral rectangular base. She also specialised in portraiture.

She was part of the cultural elite of the city of Lyon and held a famous salon in which Madame de Récamier participated. Very few of her sculptures dating from before 1815 are left as her workshop was ransacked that year. A number of her works are in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon and in the Petit Palais, Paris