AFTER CHRISTOPHE-GABRIEL ALLEGRAIN (FRENCH, 1710-1795): A 19TH CENTURY ALABASTER FIGURE OF VENUS SORTANT DU BAIN

the nude maiden holding her falling drapery with her left hand, about to dry herself, her hair arranged in an elaborate coiffure with entwined plaits, on a naturalistic base carved with rocks and reeds,

88cm high

Allegrain was commissioned to carve the original version of this figure in 1755 by the Marquis de Marigny for the chateau de Choisy-Le-Roi (Val-de-Marne). He exhibited a plaster version at the salon of 1757, and the marble version was completed and exhibited in 1767. The comtesse Du Barry purchased the piece for the park of the Chateau de Louveciennes in 1772 where it remained until 1793 when Louis-Simon Boizot secured the figure for the nation, it is now in the Louvre.