“The pensive Chatelaine”, by BOISSEAU Emile André (1842 - 1923)

Very elegant bronze “La Chatelaine pensive”, with a double patina of gold and silver. A young woman, elegantly dressed in a medieval gown, is holding flowers with her hands. She seems pensive, immersed in a reverie of love that makes her blush. Rare patina, on a black marble base. Signed on the terrace.

Size: H 61 cm – 55.5 cm without the base. Diameter of the bronze 17cm – of the base 26 cm

French school of the 2nd half of the 19th century.

Lit: Émile André Boisseau was born in Varzy and studied at the local college. He left the town in 1857 and worked in Bourges, under the direction of a sculptor, restoring diocesan buildings. He then entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was taught by Auguste Dumont and then Jean-Marie Bonnassieux. In 1868, Émile Boisseau made his debut at the Paris Salon and, in 1869, he presented his first statue there, that of Dupin, Attorney General at the Court of Cassation. This bronze work was installed the same year on the Place du Marché in Varzy. At subsequent Salons, Boisseau exhibited busts of contemporary figures and works in the neoclassical or neo-baroque style. He also worked for private mansions in Paris and produced statuettes and clock subjects cast in bronze by art foundries. In 1874, he created a statue of “Figaro” for the façade of the building housing the newspaper of the same name on rue Drouot in Paris. In 1882, he sculpted a statue of Beaumarchais for the façade of Paris City Hall. A marble version of his 1884 “Défense du foyer” was acquired by the City of Paris, which erected it in the Champ-de-Mars square. Émile Boisseau donated several of his works to the Musée Auguste-Grasset in Varzy. In 1888, he was appointed director of the Clamecy museum. He donated several of his sculptures to the museum. In 1898, he moved to 16 rue des Volontaires, in Montparnasse, where his studio was located; he died there on 16 February 19233. In 1903, he was commissioned to create a monument to the writer Claude Tillier, which was unveiled in 1905 in Clamecy. The same year, Émile Boisseau published a history of Varzy. In 1918, he designed a project for the Gournay-sur-Marne war memorial. He designed the Monument to the children of Varzy who died for France, which was unveiled in the local cemetery in 1921. Vice-president of the Société des artistes français, president of the syndicat de la propriété artistique and Officer of the Légion d’honneur since 1900, Émile Boisseau died on 17 February 1923 in his Paris hotel at 16, rue des Volontaires. He is buried in Varzy.
Works in the following museums: “Les Fils de Chlodomir” marble (1899) at the Glasgow Museum (U.K.), “La Fille de Celuta pleurant sur son enfant mort” (1871) at the Aurillac Museum of Art and Archaeology (France). Diogenes” marble, at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).