Saupé, August (active in Australia from late 1870s; d.1913; German)
Marcus Clarke, Australian Author
Plaster medallion, size unknown
Presented by Sir George Verdon, 1893
Unidentified; present location unknown
The sculptor (recorded as Carl August Lebericht Saupé) was in Adelaide in the 1880s and then in Melbourne from 1888, when plaster busts by him were included in the Centennial International Exhibition.
Angus Trumble observed in 2011 that while Saupé evidently produced “a considerable body of work” in Australia, “he and most of his work have simply vanished.” Unfortunately, this also seems to apply to the present example, donated by Verdon while he was President of the Trustees of the Public Library.
See also separate details on Clarke, the author of For the Term of his Natural Life (1874).
Refs.
SB, pp.419-20 (noting that the work was valued at £10); NGV 1894, p.127 and NGV 1905, p.151 (in each case: V.Buvelot Gallery, south wall, no.5: as Saupe)
For Saupé (not listed in either AKL or Bénézit), see Radford Early Australian Sculpture (1976) cat.no.52 (as Saupe), and http://angustrumble.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/further-august-saupe.html (dated 24 March 2011), with further details and reproductions