Large Bronze Figure of The Poet Villon by Jean Etcheto c.1920

Superb large bronze figure by the celebrated Paris foundry of Thiébaut Freres c.1920 after an original by the Spanish born sculptor Jean Francois Marie Etcheto (1853 - 1889). Full length figure of a young man in medieval costume, holding a book and quill under one arm, his other hand rests on a short dagger at his waist whilst at his feet is a lute and broken chain. The subject is the French middle ages poet Francois Villon (1431-1463) who was arrested, exiled and imprisoned in Paris for multiple crimes including in 1455 the stabbing in self defence of a priest. One of his best known poems The Ballade of the Hanged Men was apparently written when Villon was in the Châtelet prison under sentence of death. Etcheto was commissioned to produce a sculpture of Villon by the Paris town hall in 1879, debuting a plaster model in 1881 Paris Salon with a bronze being commissioned the following year from the Thiébaut Freres foundry. Standing 29½" tall, superb quality casting with very good colour. Large signature in the cast on the plinth and foundry mark for Thiébaut Freres, Fumiere et Cie (the company name used between 1920-1926) . Excellent condition.