Prosper D' Épinay

signed: P. D'EPINAY and inscribed F. BARBEDIENNE. FONDEUR. bronze, dark brown patina, on a faux porphyry octagonal base CATALOGUE NOTE Prosper d'Epinay's bronze shows a small boy and a majestic eagle locked in fantastical, violent combat. Hannibal and the Eagle was an allegorical subject, representing the struggle between the ancient Carthaginian empire and its powerful, expanding enemy, Rome. However, the artist based his vision of the subject on a very current source. The group was created in 1867, just five years after the publication of Gustave Flaubert's Salammbô. Salammbô was written shortly after Flaubert's master-piece Madame Bovary and, like its predecessor, was a huge success. Dealing with sensational Oriental scenes, Salammbô immediately became a literary inspiration to painters and sculptors. It tells the story of Hamilcar Barca, a Carthaginian general, and his daughter, Salammbô. Hamilcar also has a young son, Hannibal, and d'Epinay based his sculpture on a passage in chapter VII describing the child's brutal prowess: Would you believe it, that last moon he surprised an eagle; he dragged it away, and the bird's blood and the child's were scattered in the air in large drops like driven roses. The animal in its fury enwrapped him in the beating of its wings; he strained it against his breast, and as it died his laughter increased, piercing and proud like the clashing of swords. D'Epinay's Hannibal staggers back but keeps his grip on the eagle, with his left hand clasping through the feathers and his right hand crushing its throat. The details are skillfully observed giving movement to the combat, with Hannibal's Oriental locks swinging before his ears and the great sweep of the eagles massive wings. The group was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1869 and, in an occurrence unheard of since the foundation of the Academy, the jury stopped before it to applaud. RELATED LITERATURE Roux-Foujols, pp. 30-31; Graves, vol. 11, p. 307

DESCRIPTION (la tête recollée) signé d'Epinay