Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (French, 1824 to 1887)
Alfred-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse began his artistic training at a young age, first with an engraver and then a goldsmith, before entering the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1840. Finding himself more attracted to the decorative arts, he began working with ceramics at the Minton factory and with metalwork for English companies such as Wedgwood and William Brownfield & Sons. After his debut at the salon in 1850 with two bronze medallions, his volume of work increased immensely over the following decades; he produced a variety of subjects as well as decoration in bronze, terracotta, plaster and marble, often accented with ivory or porcelain.
Carrier-Belleuse was instrumental in popularizing the fashion for ideal portraits of historical personalities. After his return from England in 1855, he created a lively series of fantasy busts of great artists. The Rembrandt was one of the first of the sculptor’s series of busts and was exhibited at the 1863 Union Centrale in Faience with a bust of Durer. These two were soon followed by portraits of Beethoven, Mozart, Michelangelo and Raphael, and in 1874, Rubens, van Ostade, Velazquez and Murillo were added to the series.
Information courtesy of Sotheby’s, January 2008.