Crouching Flora
- 126
Anatomy and Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, May 8-June 5, 1960, no. 101, as La Flore Accroupie.
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux originally conceived Crouching Flora as part of an elaborate allegorical scene to decorate the exterior of the Palais du Louvre in Paris. Representing Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, gardens, and love, this reduced-scale marble version was made for commercial sale. For the pose, Carpeaux took inspiration from the antique figures of the Roman goddess Venus after a bath. Carpeaux also emulated the classical tradition in his idealization of the figure’s form and the highly refined, smooth surface of the marble.
Katharina Schratt (1853-1940), Vienna [1];
With Bourgeois Galleries, New York, by October 26, 1928;
Purchased from Bourgeois Galleries by Duveen Brothers, New York, stock no. 29380, October 26, 1928- 1931 [2];
Sir Joseph Duveen’s (1869-1939) gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1931.
NOTES:
[1] Duveen Brothers Records, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, New York Stock Book 16, 1931-1932, vol. 1, p. 72, copy in NAMA curatorial files.
[2] Ibid.
“Gift to Nelson Gallery: Sir Joseph Duveen Presents Carpeaux’s ‘Crouching Venus’,” Kansas City Star (April 3, 1931): 59, (repro.), as Crouching Venus.
“Duveen Gives Statue to Buyer of Rembrandt,” New York Herald Tribune (April 4, 1931), as Crouching Venus.
“A Treasure Island of Art Masterpieces,” The Kansas City Visitor (October 1931): 5, (repro.), as La Flore Accroupie.
“The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City Special Number,” The Art News 32, no. 10 (December 9, 1933): 50, (repro).
“Anatomy and Art, May 8 to June 5, 1960,” exh. cat., Bulletin (The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum) 3, no. 1 (1960), as La Flore Accroupie.
