A very fine bust depicting the Happy Neapolitan, after Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, French, 1827 to 1875. Signed to the base: JB. Carpeaux, stamped: PROPRIETE CARPEAUX and ATELIER DEPOT, AUTEUIL PARIS, 74 RUE BOILEAU, and numbered: 1301. Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux was a French sculptor and painter during the Second Empire under Napoleon III. His early studies were under François Rude. Carpeaux entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1844 and won the Prix de Rome in 1854. Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux was famous for the works he completed for Napoleon III. He submitted one of his sculptures to the French Academy which led to further commissions from Napoleon III and the sale of the original work in plaster to him for his empress, Eugenie. European Decorative Arts, Sculptures and Carvings For Collectors.