Style Other / Ref.13194

Félix CHARPENTIER (1858-1924) «Matinado », marble sculpture from the model exhibited in the 1909 salon, circa 1910

Our marble sculpture is a copy of the original model exhibited in the 1909 Salon des Artistes Français by Félix Charpentier (1858-1924), untitled « Matinado », morning in Italian. The inscription of its basement « à Mr Fettu ses amis » (To M. Fettu his friends) indicates that this is a private order from Eugène Fettu’s friends in memory of the woman very closed to him, who posed for the sculptor.

Félix Charpentier was an important sculptor in the last decades of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. After studying in the École des Beaux-Arts of Avignon, then in Paris, he shows in 1879, then regularly each year, his works in the Salon des Artistes français. He knows during all his career, a huge success and wins a silver medal in the International Exhibition of 1889, many medals for his sends to the Salon, very often bought by the State, and receives in April 1892, the Légion d’honneur.

The critique was also charmed by the presentation of the marble, like Mr Darras, journalist from the Revue Générale de construction, who writes :
« If I look at Matinado again, by the master Félix Charpentier, I admire the grace with which this other woman gets out of the nights’ shadows and smiles to the dawn of a new day, I feel life coming in this body numbed by the sleep poppies; I see the blood’s going to take back its normal flow and I am happy to see translated in a such charming language one of the most beautiful manifestations of nature in the moment when it’s awaking.» M. Darras, « Le « NU » au Salon », editorial of Revue Générale de la Construction, n°141, published on november, 5 1909 By knowing a true success, many reduction were made by the sculptor. It is for instance, the case with our marble, which proposes nevertheless, a slight difference compared to the original model. Indeed, the sculptor has added between the woman’s hands, a drapery that is falling behind her shoulders. More over, as suggests the inscription, our marble is a special order from friends to the old mayor of Combres, Eugène Fettu, also general counselor of Eure-Et-Loir between 1910 and 1940. Rumor has it that the woman who posed for the sculpture was very closed to him. Thus, a feast was organized by the counselor and mayor’s friends when the sculpture was received and immortalized by a photograph taken on the same day where we can easily recognize our sculpture on the background.