Sale: Sotheby's, New York, May 7, 2015, lot 43, illustrated
Acquired at the above sale

June Hargrove, The Life and Work of Albert Carrier-Belleuse, New York and London, 1977, pp. 257-8, illustration of another cast pl. 244
Peter Fusco and H.W. Janson, The Romantics to Rodin: French nineteenth-century sculpture from North American collections, exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1980, pp. 164-6, illustration of another cast no. 50
June Hargrove and Gilles Grandjean, ed., Carrier-Belleuse, Le Maître de Rodin, exh. cat., Grand Palais de Compiègne, May 22-October 27, 2014, illustrated in the painting fig. 27

The sculpture is in overall good condition aside from some minor burnishing on the raised areas, especially the satyr's knees; the nymph's knees; and the tips of fingers and toes. There is some minor rubbing to the patina on the satyr's back Sold with a custom wooden base, 38.1 by 23.25 by 14.1 inches (87 by 59 by 36 cm).
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This dynamic sculptural group depicts a famous scene drawn from Ovid. Pirithous, King of the Lapiths, invited the centaurs to feast and celebrate his marriage to the beautiful Hippodamie. The centaurs, unused to wine, allowed their wild intuitions to get the better of them and the centaur Eurityon tried in vain to abduct Hippodamie. King Pirithous and his comrade Theseus, incensed by Eurityon's actions, led the Lapiths to victory over the centaurs in a battle known as the Centauromachy, a scene depicted throughout art history, from the Parthenon to Piero di Cosimo and Peter Paul Rubens to Giorgio de Chirico.

In Fusco and Janson's seminal 1980 catalogue The Romantics to Rodin, June Hargrove speculates in a catalogue entry for the National Gallery of Art's identical model (bequest of William Nelson Cromwell fund, INV. 1977.58.1) that Carrier-Belleuse's L'enlèvement d'Hippodamie was in fact partially modelled by the young Auguste Rodin. Rodin worked in Carrier-Belleuse's studio from 1864 until 1871, the year in which the present model was conceived. 

There is a marked difference to the materiality of the sculpture between the gentle, smooth surface and sensuous pose of the female nude and the bulky musculature and brute strength of the centaur. This difference in handling was not only employed to heighten the contrast between female and male, civility and violence, but also suggests that the model was a collaborative work. Hargrove notes strong similarities between the impressionistic and powerful figure of the centaur Eurityon and Rodin’s later production of the four titans that support the Vase of the Titans (circa 1879-80) which was designed and signed by Carrier-Belleuse but executed by his former pupil, Rodin. The twisting body of the centaur and the open, screaming mouth bring to mind the writhing, tortured figures in Rodin's Gates of Hell.