FRANÇOIS RUDE (FRENCH, 1784-1855)

Representing Hebe, the cupbearer to the gods, lifting a goblet of nectar out of the reach of Jupiter who has assumed the form of an eagle, the present bronze is a reduction of a full-scale marble by François Rude in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon (1851-1856). In 1846 the city of Dijon, Rude's birthplace, commissioned the artist to create a sculpture for its museum leaving him to decide upon the subject; in response, from 1851, Rude worked on Hébé et l’aigle de Jupiter which was completed after his death by his pupil and nephew, Jean Baptiste Paul Cabet (1815-1876), and shown at the Salon of 1857. With its adherence to antique precedent, careful attention to the human form and dramatic composition, the present, especially well-cast bronze reduction by Thiebaut is a fine testament to Rude’s œuvre.