CARPEAUX, Jean-Baptiste

Valenciennes, Nord 1827 - Courbevoie, Hauts-de-Seine 1875

Madame Alexandre Dumas fils (1827-1875)

Portrait of Nadine Dumas (Madame Alexandre Dumas fils 1827-1875)

1873-1875

marble

bust

Dimensions (HxWxD): 31 ¹⁄₂ × 22 ¹⁄₄ × 15; 260 lb. in

Acc. No.: 85.SA.47

Credit Line: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Photo credit: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

© Artist : public domain

© Artist : public domain

Los Angeles, California, The J. Paul Getty Museum

www.getty.edu/museum

Provenance

• 1875-1895, Alexandre Dumas fils (French, 1824-1895)
• 1895-1982, by inheritance to the Heirs of Alexandre Dumas fils
• 1982, June 14, Monte Carlo, Sotheby Parke Bernet Monaco S.A. sale, lot 234, sold to Fabius Frères
• 1982-1985, Paris, Fabius Frères Gallery (1882-2011)
• 1985, sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum

Bibliography

• Museum's website, accessed 22 March 2012 and August 6, 2018
• 1876 Mantz
  Paul Mantz, "Carpeaux", Gazette des Beaux-Arts 13, January 1876, p. 625
• 1914 Lami
  Stanislas Lami, Dictionnaire des Sculpteurs de L'École Française au Dix-Neuvième Siècle, 2 vols., Paris, Édouard Champion, 1914, Vol. 1, p. 275
• 1935 Clément-Carpeaux
  Louise Clément-Carpeaux, La Vérité sur l’Œuvre et la Vie de J.B. Carpeaux, 2 vols., Paris, André Lesot, 1935, Vol. 2, p. 175
• 1986 [Getty Journal]
  "Acquisitions/1985", The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 14, 1986, pp. 258-59, no. 234
• 1997 Fusco
  Peter Fusco, Summary Catalogue of European Sculpture in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997, p. 14, ill.

Exhibitions

• 1875 Paris
  Salon, Paris, n° 2927
  
  2014 New York
  The Passions of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 10 March-26 May, 2014, Curated by James D. Draper and Edouard Papet, cat. no. 150
  
  2014 Paris Carpeaux
  Carpeaux (1827-1875), un sculpteur pour l'Empire, Paris, Musée d'Orsay, 23 juin-28 septembre 2014, commisssaires : Edouard Papet et James D. Draper

Comment

• Museum's website, accessed August 6, 2018:
  Known in her younger days as the "siren with green eyes," Madame Nadine Dumas retains her grace and charm in this portrait bust of her at a mature age. Carved in white marble, she is a handsome woman in her later years with a forceful presence. As she turns with a steady gaze, her upright pose conveys self-assurance. Her unconventional expression suggests intelligence and strength as it shows her with a furrowed brow, caught in a moment of thought. The lace edging on her blouse and the waves in her upswept hair add animation to the smooth surface, while the termination of the bust is softened with a shawl loosely knotted around the shoulders and waist.
  The daughter of a lawyer from the Baltic region, Nadine, born Nadeja Knorring, married Prince Alexandre Naryschkine, her elder by twenty years. After separating from her husband, she lived with the famous author Alexandre Dumas fils for about twelve years, unable to marry him until 1864, when Prince Naryschkine died. Artist Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, a close friend of Dumas and a witness at his wedding to Nadeja, conceived of the bust as a friendship portrait. He carved it while staying with the Dumas couple in the north of France near Dieppe.

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