A Bronze Grand Tour Statue of a Seated Greek Scholar Signed Moreau

A beautifully cast patinated bronze statue of a classically draped Greek scholar sitting sideways in a Klismos chair which has griphons as front leg supports, with a pen in his right hand and an open scroll on his left arm. The statue was made by the prolific French bronze making artist family “Moreau” which is inscribed on one side of the chair.

Presumably the signature stands for Mathurin Morea a French sculptor who worked in the traditional academic style of the 19th century. Born in Dijon, France on November 18, 1822, he was the son of noted sculptor Jean Baptiste Moreau. In 1841, he entered the École des Beaux Arts in Paris and, the following year, won the Second Grand Prix de Rome with his sculpture Diodemus removing the Palladium. Several of his works remain on public display in Paris, among them Cologne on the facade of the Gare du Nord train station, L’Océanie in the courtyard of the Musée d’Orsay, and Zénobe Gramme in the Père Lachaise cemetery. In 1897, he received a medal of honor from the Paris Salon and was elected mayor of the 19th arrondissement of Paris, a position he held until his death on February 14, 1912.

Dimensions: 13″ H x 11″ W X 5.5″ D