Allegory - attributed to Pierre-Joseph Michel (1737-1812)

Original terracotta representing the allegory of a spring or a river, probably a project for a fountain.

Pierre-Joseph Michel (Nancy, 1731 - Paris, 1738) is the older brother of the sculptor Clodion (Nancy, 1738 - Paris, 1814, whose real name is Claude Michel). His works is rare and his career little known. He would be mentioned in a document of 1783 as "one of Mr. Clodion's best students". The work of Pierre-Joseph Michel differs from that of his younger brother by a more compact composition, with accentuated volumes, where the obscure light supported imitates the luminist games of painting "(Musée Cognacq-Jay)

This work is close to terracotta such as the "Jeune femme couchée lisant" (1780) or "La Bacchante ivre" (1780) kept at the Nancy Museum of Fine Arts.

Size : 6.7 - 10.4 - 5.1 in.

Museums and public collections:
- Musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris - "La Bascule", bas-relief, terracotta.
- Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy - "Jeune femme couchée lisant" terracotta.
- Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy - "La Bacchante ivre", terracotta.
- Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio - "Une Muse", or "Euterpe", Marble.

Bibligraphy :
- A.L. Poulet and Guilhem Scherf, "Clodion 1738-1814", exhibition catalogue, Paris, RMN, 1992, p. 396-404.
- Albert Jacquot, "Les Adam et les Michel et Clodion", Paris, 1898, p. 25-26