A LARGE FRENCH ORMOLU AND WHITE MARBLE BUST OF DIANA

Henri Weigèle was born in the town of Schlierbach in the Haut Rhin region near the Swiss border in 1858. He studied in Paris under Jules Franchesi and developed a considerable reputation working in bronze and marble, producing figurative works of allegorical and classical subjects such as the present lot. Weigèle exhibited at the Paris Salon, receiving various medals in 1893, 1907 and 1909. In 1902 he became a member of the Salon des Artistes Français. It is his classical subjects that were highly sought after, and his Athenian Woman is in the collection of the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. He was also a renowned sculptor in bronze, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris having his Alfred Chauchard -founder of the Grands Magasins du Louvre - executed in 1910. Examples of this subject were sold at Christie's, New York, 1 May 2000, lot 57 ($127,000) and Sotheby's, New York, 1 November 1995, lot 230 ($57,500).