A PAIR OF ITALIAN WHITE MARBLE FIGURES EMBLEMATIC OF NIGHT AND DAY

Charles-Auguste Fraikin (1817-1893) was famed for his graceful interpretation of neo-classical sculpture and his magnum opus, L'Amour Captif, was copied by sculptors across Europe. With its fluidity of form, billowing classical robes and love attributes, the influence of L'Amour Captif, and the similar Venus Anadyomène, is clearly evident in the fine pair of figures offered here. It is appropriate that this pair of figures are in the style of a celebrated sculptor as they are by Pietrò Franchi who, working in Carrara around 1870, specialised in copying well known works by contemporary artists such as Fraikin.