This amusing yet, technically virtuoso, terracotta statuette is a portrait of the archetypal, haughty, Belle Époque Parisian nobleman, the marquis de Modène in the guise of a satyr. Executed in around 1909 by the Mauritian-born, Anglo-French, sculptor Prosper d’Epinay, it humorously mocks the dandy marquis, who was a longstanding friend of the sculptor.      

While d’Epinay lead a successful career as a sculptor working between Paris, Rome and London, his early career was principally devoted to society portraiture, numerous examples of which were exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1865 and 1881. However, his later works took a far more satirical slant and, as with the present terracotta, pocked fun at individuals as well as at high society in general. 

With this portrait we can see how deftly d’Epinay infuses the uncooked clay with a delicate measure of psychological intensity: the portrait is humorous without being ridiculous, elegant without being precious and, ultimately, a touching reflection of the intimate relationship between the sculptor and his model.

In her 1890s book Society in Paris, Juliette Adam described the marquis as: 

‘… the greatest blasé of the time. He is a veteran of love's battles and still keeps alive the sweet recollection of bygone days, which sometimes still awakes in him his slumbering passions. When his friends give vent to their surprise and express their admiration for his green old age, “One cannot always be getting old,’ humorously puts in the amiable Marquis, with the sweet and guileless smile familiar to him.’