Water
ca. 1750–60
Medium
Limestone
Dimensions
Height: 7 ft. 5 in. (226.1 cm)
Classification
Sculpture
Culture
French, Rouen
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Charles Ulrick and Josephine Bay Foundation Inc. Gift, 1964
Accession Number
64.93.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
Nestled in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's European Sculpture and Decorative Arts collection, *Water* by Jean-Pierre Defrance (active ca. 1740–1770) exemplifies the exuberant Rococo style of mid-18th-century France. Carved from limestone around 1750–60, this monumental 7-foot-5-inch sculpture from Rouen captures the playful essence of the period's decorative arts. Defrance, a skilled sculptor from Normandy's artistic hub, crafted it as an allegorical figure likely representing the element of water, surrounded by frolicsome putti (cherubic children) and graceful female forms that evoke fluidit...