Jean Didier Debut (1824-1893) : 'La déesse romaine Pomona', une représentation allégorique de la récolte, bronze en partie doré sur socle en marbre

H.: 69 cm (the sculpture)
H.: 84 cm (incl. the stand)

Weight: 23 kg

The central figure of a female maenad dressed in classical garbs, holding a thyrsus in her right hand and raising a bunch of grapes in her left, is flanked by a pair of winged cherubs.
The bronze sculpture revolves while resting on a fine gilt-bronze-mounted rosso antico marble base standing on four gilt bronze feet.

Signed 'Debut Sp', and bearing the founder’s mark 'Jules Graux Bronzier'.

Jean Didier Debut (1824-1893) was a pupil of David d'Angers. He began his career at the Paris Salon in 1848 and was awarded the second-class Grand Prix de Rome in 1851. Among his most notable works are Faun and Bacchantes, Danaids, and the Statue of the Empress Eugenie, destroyed by members of the Commune in 1871. He was employed on the decoration of the commercial court, the Opera and the Hôtel de Ville, Paris.

Jules Graux's Foundry was established in 1845. It was based at 8 rue du Parc-Royal from 1860. The firm exhibited at the last national exhibition in Paris in 1849 and again Paris in 1855. At the London exhibition of 1862 their entry was described as, 'bronzes d’ameublement, cheminée et garniture de cheminée, lustres, vases, statues, groupes, objets de service de table, guéridon de malachite. They also contributed to the Paris exhibition of 1867, and Paris 1878 where Graux was described as 'one of the most eminent of the bronze manufacturers of Paris'.

The foundry was renowned for producing high-quality bronze castings, chasing and gilding, including clocks, candelabras, statuettes and other fine decorative works of art. Jules Graux - Graux-Marly Fondeurs also cast bronzes for many of the most famous sculptors of the day, including but not limited to Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, and Jean Didier Debut.