Type: Limited edition prints
Size: 48cm x 33cm
Tirage: 50 copies
Α pencil drawing of a masterpiece of French 18th-century sculpture, Pierre Julien’s Gladiateur mourant - Dying Gladiator in the Musée du Louvre (inv. no. RF4923).
Julien was recognised as one of the most talented French sculptors of his generation on the successful submission of the Gladiateur mourant as the sculptor's morceau d'agrément to the Académie royale on 25 April 1778 (original plaster, musée Denon, Chalon-sur-Saône, inv. no. S.19).
The finished marble morceau de réception was met with unanimous approval from the jury, whose collective view was summed up by Jean-Baptiste Radet thus: 'One does not often view a morceau de réception of such strength'. The marble was presented at the Paris Salon of 1779 (no. 229) in the centre of the Louvre's Salon Carré.
Describing Julien's morceau de réception in 1779, Radet exclaimed: 'This isn’t marble; it’s flesh ... [and depicts]... an unfortunate perishing wretch, whose pain we share: in short, this sculpture is pure soul. One does not often get to see so strong a piece' (op. cit.).
