François-Raoul Larche:
Jesus au millieu des doctors/Christ amongst the doctors
Unmounted (ref: 1156)
Signed and stamped with foundry mark
Silver, 15 x 15 in. (38 x 38 cm.), on a brown and grey patterned marble plinth, 9 7/8 x 17 3/4 in. (25 x 45 cm.)

Tags: François-Raoul Larche bronze religion

This cast, more commonly known as a bronze, was produced by Siot-decauiville, Fondeur, Paris ed. F659.  A second silver cast is in the Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina.

François-Raoul Larche  was a French Art Nouveau sculptor best  known for his numerous female figures, both nude and draped.

He was one of several artists inspired by the dancer Loie Fuller; his  statue depicting Fuller dancing with part of her drapery billowing above and behind her head like a flame has become one of the icons on the Art Nouveau era.

Frome the Renaissance onwards Christ amongst  the doctors has been a very popular subject with artists.  The depiction here is unusally in so far as it  only the head and shoulders of the adolescent Christ, rather than the more typically depicted scene at large.