Beautiful sitting marble Sappho statue by James Pradier

Sappho’s (1852) painful restraint and palpitating drama clearly show this. Of course, this character combines the nobility of marble with the dignity of the subject, but the clarity of the structure, the wildness of the posture, and the intensity of contemplation suddenly endow it with a kind of existence and strong internality: the ancient poetess Sappho, desperately, wants to commit suicide .

Everything shows that Pradier is an ambiguous artist with many different talents: recognized by the academy in his early years, but he still explored the path of romanticism drawn from literature, just like here. He is closely related to Victor Hugo, who has publicly defended himself many times.

When the sculptor died suddenly in 1852, Sappho exhibited at the Salon; then she was covered with a black veil, and the artist was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.