ALBERT-ERNEST CARRIER-BELLEUSE (FRENCH, 1824-1887)

The mythological figures known as ondines (or ‘undines’) are water nymphs who have the capacity to become human by falling in love with or marrying a mortal man. While similar creatures appear in Greek and Roman mythology, the term ‘undine’ first noted in the works of the Renaissance physician and alchemist Paracelsus (1494-1541). The myth was went on to be various adapted, particularly in the 19th century and most notably in Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué’s Romantic fairy-tale novella Undine (1811) and in the poem ‘Ondine’, appearing in Aloysius Bertrand’s collection of prose poetry Gaspard de la Nuit (1842). The story of the sea nymph yearning to become human is probably most recognized today as a result of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid (1837).
Presumably it is from these publications that Carrier-Belleuse found the inspiration for the title of his composition, however the figure’s form is almost certainly derived from Jean-Antoine Houdon’s celebrated Diane (1790) but transformed with greater contrapposto so typical of Carrier-Belleuse (see J. Hargrove, The Life and Work of Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, 1977, p. 48). The model for Ondine was first exhibited in marble at the 1864 Paris Salon (no. 2536). According to Hargrove, this example was acquired by Marguerite Bellanger and has since disappeared. However, in the following decades spanning the sculptor’s career the model was produced in several variations, such with and without a floral headband (which is included in the present lot), and in the media terracotta and marble. A shrewd business, the marble examples were executed in at least three sizes including 4 m., 1.2 m., and the present example, 0.73 m.