Marble bust of Iphigénie - Lot 129

Marble bust of Iphigénie After Michelangelo Slodtz (Paris, 1705 - Paris, 1764), France, late 18th / early 19th century Height: 52 cm Comparative bibliography: F. Souchal, Les Slodtz, sculpteurs et décorateurs du roi (1685-1764), Paris, 1967, pp.195-200 and pp.658-660. F. Souchal, Les bustes de Chrysès et d'Iphigénie sculptés à Rome par M.-A. Slodtz, Bulletin de la Société de l'histoire de l'art français (BSHAF), 1961, pp.85-86. Slodtz created the terra cotta model of Iphigénie in Rome between 1737 and 1740 in pair with a bust of Chrysès (Musée du Louvre, inv. nos. ENT1984.22 and 23). In 1728, Slodtz became a boarder at the Académie de France in Rome, where he was noticed by director Nicolas Vleughels, whose bust he sculpted with great realism. He spent almost twenty years in the Eternal City, where he acquired a solid reputation thanks to his major religious works, such as La Transverbération de sainte Thérèse, the Saint Bruno in Saint-Pierre du Vatican and several sculptures for the Saint-Nom-de-Marie. He also made a name for himself in funerary sculpture, with monuments to Vleughels, the Marquis Capponi and the tomb of the Archbishops of Vienna (1746). Returning to France in 1740, he came up against the intrigues of the Comte de Caylus, but thanks to the support of Cochin, his talent was recognized. Weakened by illness, he nevertheless created the great mausoleum of Languet de Gergy and the high reliefs for the porch of Saint-Sulpice, works marked by intense spirituality. Iphigenia is the daughter of Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, and Clytemnestra. At the start of the Trojan War, the Achaean fleet was immobilized in the port of Aulis because of an offense Agamemnon had committed against the goddess Artemis. To appease his anger and allow the ships to set sail again, Agamemnon consults the soothsayer Calchas, who reveals that he will have to sacrifice his own daughter, Iphigenia. Initially revolted by the idea, Agamemnon refuses, but finally gives in under pressure from Ulysses and Menelaus. He then devises a stratagem: he brings Iphigenia to Aulis, making her believe that she is to marry Achilles. However, at the moment of sacrifice, Artemis, moved by the young girl, replaced Iphigenia with a deer, saving her in extremis.