JOSE DE VILCHES (SPANISH, 1813-1890)

According to Ovid, Cupid’s arrows were of two kinds, gold that kindled love and lead that drove it away (Metamorphoses 1:468 ff). Here the subject, titled Love and Modesty, is shown about to be struck by cupid’s arrow and tormented in expectation of ecstasy.
Born in Malaga in 1813, Vilches worked in Rome, where he created the present lot in 1860 following the success of his statue of Andromache, 1853, which won a gold medal at the National Exhibition of Fine Art in Madrid in 1856 and was installed in the Royal Conservatory of Music, before being moved to its position today in the Paseo de Recoletos. Vilches was court sculptor to Queen Isabella II of Spain (1830 –1904) whose lifesize statue he sculpted in 1862, and is today in the Campo del Moro gardens at the Palacio Real, Madrid. Establishing himself in Madrid society, the banker the Marquis of Campo (1814-1889) bought a sculpture and a relief by Vilches in 1875. A monumental marble relief of Alexander taming Bucephalus by Vilches sold Christie's, London, 29 November 2016, lot 352 (£239,000).