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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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‘UN ESCLAVE INDIEN PORTANT UNE TORCHE’ AND ‘UNE ESCLAVE INDIENNE PORTANT UNE TORCHE’ A pair of magnificent Second Empire bronze statues by François-Christophe-Armand Toussaint entitled ‘Un Esclave Indien Portant une Torche’ and ‘Une Esclave Indienne Portant une Torche’, both signed and dated A Toussaint 1850, cast by Ferdinand Barbedienne, bearing the foundry stamp F Barbedienne Fondeur and also stamped Reduction Mecanique AE Collas. Both figures standing, wearing elongated headdresses, the bare-breasted female with hooped pendant earrings wearing a gathered skirt and holding a torch in her right hand, a casket placed beside her feet. The companion male slave with hooped earrings, wearing a loincloth, a fan in his right hand holding the torch aloft in the left, the vase-shaped torches decorated with pairs of ram’s heads and floral swags, both figures on square bases with rounded corners, on contemporary mid-nineteenth century pillared and scrolled plinths on octagonal bases Paris, dated 1850 Overall height excluding glass shades: 239 cm; height of the figures: 112 cm. each. Literature: “Bronzes d’Art F. Barbedienne”, trade catalogue 1886, p. 62, illustrating the pair described as ‘Les Deux-Indiens Esclaves (porte-lumière) par M. Toussaint. Two sizes were advertised, one of this size (la réduction aux trois cinquièmes) and a further reduction measuring 70 cm in height. Pierre Kjellberg, “Les Bronzes du XIXe Siècle”, 1986, pp. 628-9, illustrating a similar pair of bronzes (ht: 120 cm) by Toussaint likewise cast by Barbedienne, each supporting a branched candelabra; and p. 15, illustrating the Indienne, (ht: 153 cm) cast by Graux-Marly. These two magnificent Oriental bronze figural torchères epitomize Armand Toussaint’s (1806-62) supreme ability as a sculptor. Plaster versions of each model were exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1847 (nos. 2161 and 2162 respectively), followed later by bronze versions shown at the Salon of 1850-51 (nos. 3598 and 3599 respectively). The Ministre de l’Intérieur commissioned bronze models of each figure from the sculptor on 23rd February 1850 for the Palais de l’Elysée in Paris, which was rebuilt on a larger scale in 1850. Toussaint received 6000 francs for the male slave on 20th February 1851 and the same amount for the female slave on 12th August 1852. It was most probably on account of this commission and their success that in 1852 Toussaint was awarded the coveted Croix de la Légion d’Honneur. Toussaint was born in Paris on 7th April 1806 the son of an entrepreneur metalworker, in whose workshop he served his apprenticeship and learnt the art of ornamental sculpture. In 1827, he enrolled at the l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris where he studied under the celebrated sculptor Pierre-Jean David, known as David d’Angers (1788-1856). On account of the success of his historical figurative relief “Capanée foudroyé sous les murs de Thèbes”, Toussaint won the deuxième grand prix de Rome, 1832. Four years later in 1836 he made his debut at the Paris Salon, where he showed a funereal bas-relief and figurative statue of a young labourer, both in plaster. Three years later he was awarded a third class medal for his Salon exhibits, followed in 1847 by a second class medal. Toussaint’s style owed much to his classical training under David d’Angers and like him, received a number of important public commissions. Some were for portraits such as a large marble bust of David d’Angers (dated 1861) for the Musée David at Angers, commissioned by the town in 1856. He was also asked by the Ministre de l’Intérieur, 1851 to execute a bronze group depicting Docteur Esquirol for the Hospice de Charenton. In addition, he executed works for the Palais du Louvre and decorations for the staircase and Salon des Quatre Saisons at Château du Dampierre, 1840. Toussaint also contributed works for La Bourse at Marseille and the figures of La Loi, La Justice and two seated children to adorn the clock at the Palais de Justice, 1851. In contrast, Toussaint was also asked to execute a number of religious works including the figures of Saint Marcel and others for the façades and interior of Notre-Dame church, Paris. In 1854 he was commissioned to execute a stone relief of Christ enthroned for Sainte-Clotilde, Paris and two years later completed a stone bas-relief portraying Christ on the Cross for the same church. In addition, he executed a bas-relief of the Stations of the Cross for the church of Saint-Séverin as well as a number of funereal works including one for the tomb of David d’Angers at Père-Lachaise cemetery. Following an esteemed career Toussaint died on 24th May 1862 at his home at rue Bellefond, Paris and was buried at Montmartre cemetery. In many respects, the present models diverge from the majority of his more important commissions but at the same time reflect a similar subject matter explored by artists such as the celebrated Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), the sculptor Charles Cordier (1827-1905) and others. Illustrated opposite Toussaint’s models in the Barbedienne trade catalogue of 1886 were similar exotic Oriental torch-bearing figures such as a Persian and Indian woman by Emile Guillemin (1841-1907). The same page also featured other similar figures in Renaissance style dress by Jean-Alexandre Falguière (1831-1900) and Paul Desbois (1829-1905), who interestingly had trained in Toussaint’s workshop. Ferdinand Barbedienne’s (1810-92) casts are renowned for their exceptional high quality, much of his success resting upon the exploitation of an invention by his friend and partner Achille Collas (1795-1859). In 1847, they devised a process known as appareil réducteur that enabled accurate reductions of classical and contemporary sculptures to be reproduced to a chosen scale in bronze. Among the many subjects reproduced by the foundry were famous pieces after Michelangelo, Coyzevox, copies after the Antique as well as those by nineteenth century sculptors such as the animalier A-L Barye, David d’Angers and the latter’s pupil Armand Toussaint. Barbedienne’s bronze foundry, which opened in 1839 soon became the most technically advance of its kind. With a workforce of some 300 skilled labourers, the firm was responsible for casting many of Paris and the nation’s public monuments, interior decorations and architectural bronzes. The foundry also employed its own modellers such as Carrier-Belleuse and Clesinger, producing in addition to bronzes, silverware and reproduction furniture particularly in the Renaissance and Louis XVI styles. In 1850, Barbedienne was commissioned to furnish the main reception rooms of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris and later in the 1880’s began reproducing Japonaiserie furniture and imitation Chinese and Japanese works in bronze. As Barbedienne proudly announced on the front cover of his 1886 trade catalogue, his firm won many important medals at various Expositions Universelles including those at Vienna, Amsterdam and Anvers. At the Paris show of 1855 he was awarded a grande medal d’honneur and the grand prix in 1878. Likewise, he caused a sensation at the Great Exhibition of London, 1851 where his stand included an ebony and bronze bookcase featuring bronze mounts modelled by Clesinger after Michelangelo and Ghiberti. Later he produced some very fine enamel work, some of which was shown at the London Exhibition of 1862. But in spite of his diversity, Barbedienne’s greatest contribution to the arts was probably the quality of his bronze castings of works by so many of Europe’s greatest masters. |