Paul Dubois
For condition report contact specialist
”Charity"
Signed R. Dubois. Foundry mark F. Barbedienne Fondeur. Bronze, brown patina. Height 48 cm.
Literature
Harold Berman, "Bronzes, Sculptors & Founders 1800-1930", Volume III, 1977, p. 585, compare catalogue no 2140.
More information
In the Cathedral of Nates in France, is the tomb of General Christophe Léon Louis Juchault de Lamoriciére placed. The cenotaph is surrounded by four monumental sculptures depicting allegories. The sculptures are created by the artist Paul Dubois and one of these is the so-called "Charite", also called "Maternité".
A plaster model was exhibited at the Salon in 1876 alongside Courage Militaire, and the completed monument was displayed at the Exposition Universelle in 1878, prior to its installation in the transept of Nantes Cathedral the following year. This sculptured personification of Charity as a mother protecting her naked children was an easily recognisable one to the 19th-century viewer. Renaissance and contemporary interpretations of the subject were both displayed in European museums and circulated in popular prints.