Antique high quality and untouched bronze of "Ondine" signed in the bronze "Math Moreau" and on a bronze plaque fixed to the base " Ondine par Math. MOREAU Medaille d'Honneur" This beautiful bronze is of a young woman, semi draped, sitting on a rock among bullrushes and with water pouring from a tipped over vessel. The beautiful young woman with her hair high and crowned with flowers also wears two pairs of butterfly wings. She is of course the mythical water nymph, Ondine, who is immortal and in order to obtain a soul has to marry a mortal, bear a child and from that moment loses her immortality. The patination is a very dificult and fine light brown patination which is in excellent condition. A beautiful and delicate bronze. France circa 1860. 19 inches high by 9 inches deep and 7.5 inches wide ( 47.5 cms by 22.5 cms by 18.75 cms).(b Dijon, 18 Nov 1822; d Paris, 14 Feb 1912). French sculptor and entrepreneur. In 1841 Mathurin entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, where he trained under Etienne-Jules Ramey and Augustin-Alexandre Dumont. He made his Salon début in 1848 with Elegy (plaster, Dijon, Mus. B.-A.). In 1852 his Flower Fairy , exhibited at the Salon in plaster, was commissioned by the State in bronze (Dijon, Mus. B.-A.). At the 1861 Salon, his marble Spinner was also bought by the State, for the Musée du Luxembourg, Paris (version, Dijon. Mus. B.-A.). Poetic works of this kind continued to earn Moreau medals and prizes at subsequent Salons and international exhibitions. He became one of the administrators of the Société du Val d’Osne. Together with his pupil and namesake, Auguste Moreau (1834–1917), he continued, well into the 20th century, to supply models for the manufacture of decorative bronze statuettes. From 1878 Moreau was mayor of the 19th arrondissement in Paris. 19 inches high by 9 inches deep and 7.5 inches wide ( 47.5 cms by 22.5 cms by 18.75 cms).