19th-century French school after Filippo della Valle (1698-1 - Lot 110

19th-century French school after Filippo della Valle (1698-1768) Love and Psyche Proof in patinated terra cotta H. 60 cm Related work : -Filippo della Valle, Love and Psyche, circa 1730, marble, H. 84.4 cm, London, Wallace Collection, inv. S22. Related literature: -Vernon Hyde Minor, "Cupid and Psyche: Filippo della Valle or Claude-Auguste Cayot?", in Apollo, London, 1986, vol. 132, no. 292 (June), pp. 418-421. Due to the presence of an apocryphal signature and date, the marble group Amour et Psyché in the Wallace Collection has long been attributed to the French sculptor Claude-Augustin Cayot (1677-1722). Recent research has identified the artist behind the group as Filippo della Valle (1698-1768). Although he had spent his career in Rome, the Florentine sculptor was close to French sculptors such as Michelangelo Slodtz, and was influenced by the Baroque style inherited from François Duquesnoy. This influence can be seen in the morphotype of the children and the naturalistic terrace. The marble original appears to have been loaned by its owner, the Marquise de Hertford, for the decorative art exhibition entitled Musée Rétrospectif at the Palais de l'Industrie in 1865, and a 1986 article indicates that it was probably at this time that the apocryphal signature 'Cayot' was affixed to the marble. The article mentions the appearance of several terracotta versions derived from the marble group in the mid-nineteenth century. In contrast to the original, these copies feature a sex cover in the form of a ribbon that falls neatly over the front.