Pair of Terracotta Bacchic heads - Christophe Fratin (1801-1864)

Christophe Fratin (1801-1864)

Pair of Bacchic heads

Terracotta, wooden custom-made frame
Paris, circa 1850
Signed/stamped on the neck: ‘FRATIN’

Exhibited: the Salon of 1850 (Paris): “n°3395 deux cadres; têtes diverses”


H 14,5 x W 12,5 cm (without the frame)
H 5 3/4 x W 5 inch
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These two terracotta heads gracefully framed in octagonal wood boxes are signed by Christophe Fratin (1801-1864), a French sculptor from Metz who enjoyed widespread recognition during his lifetime. He received praise both at the French Salons from the critique and internationally, being commissioned for various works abroad, especially in England. In the instance of this pair of terracottas, Fratin is stamped with an inverted N, which is one of the variations of the artist’s signature.

Fratin is mainly known as an animalier, appreciated for the realism of his subjects. He exhibited in the Salons alongside Barye, a sculptor much appreciated by his contemporaries also taking inspiration from nature and animal scenes within the Romantic style and taste. This led the critique to frame Fratin as a worthy rival to Barye. After all, he had been trained in Géricault’s studio. His exhibited sculptures found appeal to the aristocratic taste in France and Fratin was eventually commissioned to realise some works for the château de Dampierre, before enjoying international success working for Lord Powerscourt’s estate in England amongst others.

Fratin worked across a range of media from bronze to plaster, including terracotta. While these heads stand outside the usual preferred subject of the artist, human themes are documented but rarely seen. The pair of bacchic heads quite match the record of the 1850 Salon where Fratin is documented to have shown as no 3395, Deux cadres, têtes diverses (Two frames, diverse heads).
Instead of Fratin’s animals in the Romantic style, the subject here is reminiscent of bacchic iconography, the bearded figures being crowned with vine leaves. Since the 18th century artists had been expressing a renewed interest in the Graeco-Roman antiquity. Most notable in sculpture in the century before Fratin’s is Clodion whose multiple bacchic figures, often in terracotta, are telling of his era’s taste for antique subjects.

These terracottas then not only stand as a testimony of Fratin’s versatility as a sculptor working across movements but also as a rare subject to be enjoyed by the contemporary viewer as they are not found in public collections.

Selected Bibliography

Michel Poletti, and Alain Richarme. Fratin : Objets décoratifs & Sculptures Romantiques. Paris: Univers du bronze sculptures XIXe & XXe, 2000.

National Gallery of Art (U.S.), Ruth Butler, Suzanne G. Lindsay, and Alison Luchs. European Sculpture of the Nineteenth Century. Washington, New York: National Gallery of Art ; Oxford University Press, 2000.

Marie Bouichou. Bacchic Iconography in the Art of the Antiquity to the Eighteenth Century.