Laurent Delvaux - Biblis and Caunus Sculpture

From My Readings of Laurent Delvaux - Biblis and Caunus, Sculpture

Delvaux’s Biblis (Byblis) and Caunus is a striking small marble group with a sad classical story behind it. Here's a concise overview of what’s known.

The work (what it is)

• Title: Biblis and Caunus (also spelled Byblis and Caunus).

• Date: after 1733 (often dated c.1733–1734).

• Medium & scale: marble group, about 123.5 cm high.

• Subject: the tragic myth of Byblis, who falls in incestuous love with her twin brother Caunus; he rejects her, she despairs and is transformed into a spring — a subject artists used to explore yearning, shame and transformation. Google Arts & Culture+1

The artist

• Laurent Delvaux (1696–1778) was a Flemish sculptor who trained in Rome and worked in a classicizing Baroque / early Neoclassical idiom. His Roman training and study of antique sculpture show in the refined modeling and classical pose of the figures. Wikimedia Commons+1

Where it is now

• The marble is in the Bode-Museum (Sculpture Collection), Berlin. The museum catalogue / records and multiple photographic sources list the work as Delvaux’s and place it in that collection (inv. no. from the museum records). Google Arts & Culture+1

What to look for (visual / stylistic notes)

• The group is intimate in scale and composition: the figures are closely entwined so the viewer reads both a physical embrace and a psychological tension — the pleading/sorrow of Biblis and the awayness or resistance of Caunus. Delvaux’s carving emphasizes soft flesh and delicate drapery folds, showing his knowledge of antique prototypes and of contemporary Italian sculpture. Photographs in museum documentation illustrate the expressive faces and the compact vertical composition.

References / sources

Museum and image documentation (Bode Museum / Google Arts & Culture / Wikimedia and photographic archives) provide entry data and photos of the sculpture. Google Arts & Culture+2Wikimedia Commons+2

Here's a  high-resolution images of Laurent Delvaux's marble sculpture Biblis and Caunus, created after 1733 and currently housed in the Bode Museum, Berlin:

You can view and download these images in full resolution from the following sources:

• Wikimedia Commons – DSC02870.JPG
  Resolution: 3,573 × 5,311 pixels

• Wikimedia Commons – Bode Museum.jpg
  Resolution: 1,280 × 2,432 pixels

• Google Arts & Culture – Biblis and Caunus
  High-resolution image available