Works included in this catalogue
* Carrier-Belleuse The Esquire and The Knight {by 1865} Loc? [SC]
* Carrier-Belleuse Melody {1904} Loc? [SC]
Carrier-Belleuse, described by H.W.Janson (1985) as “the most prolific and versatile sculptor of his time,” was one of the founding members of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1862. He was responsible for various public sculptures in Paris and elsewhere in France and Europe.
There are also numerous smaller works in various museums throughout the world, including a Venus disarming Cupid in the NGA, Canberra (terracotta, c.1869; acquired in 2004). Rodin, who was Carrier-Belleuse’s assistant between 1864 and 1870, made a terracotta bust of him in 1882 (Stanford Museum).
In 1876, Carrier-Belleuse was appointed director of the Sèvres porcelain factory, which he is said to have revitalized; the NGV owns a Sèvres Comport designed by him (1883-4), donated in 1980 – the only work by this artist now in the Melbourne collection.
Refs.
General details appear in Janson Nineteenth-century Sculpture (1985), pp.136-39 (the quote is from p.136); and http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/3298/albert-ernest-carrier-belleuse-french-1824-1887/ (this and websites listed below all accessed 26 Sept.2018); see also AKL 16 (1997), pp.602-3 and Bénézit 3, pp.476-77 (brief entries). For the NGA work, see http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/carrier-belleuse_albert-ernest.html and http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artist.php?artistid=791; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert-Ernest_Carrier-Belleuse includes a link to a reproduction of the Rodin bust in Stanford. For smaller works by Carrier-Belleuse currently on the art market, see https://www.invaluable.com/artist/carrier-belleuse-albert-ernest-cd5358ua2z/sold-at-auction-prices/ and https://www.1stdibs.com/creators/albert-ernest-carrier-belleuse/furniture/decorative-objects/sculptures/
For the Sèvres porcelain piece in the NGV, see http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/19276/ (not illustrated)