It will run through the beginning of the Capetian dynasty to nowadays and will focus on everything related to France and its history.
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L’Italie reconnaissante.
Auteur : Vicenzo VELA (1820-1891)
The woman on the right is Italy, half naked, her hands on her chest, bare feet, turned towards France and ready to offer her a kiss of peace. France is wearing a long robe adorned with eagles and other patterns. On the floor lays a broken chains and the signature of the artist : Vincenzo Vela F. 1862. The statue is on a wooden base where is written :
A EUGENIA IMPERATRICE
NELL’ ESULTANZA
DELLA PRIMA VITTORIA
CHE RENDEVA LA PATRIA A SE’ STESSA
LE DONNE MILANESI
GIUGNO MDCCCLIX
(To the Impress Eugenie - in the joy of the first victory that offered the homeland back to herself - the ladies from Milan - June 1859)
After Lombardy fought the Austrians in 1859, the women of Milan started a suscription for the Empress Eugénie to thank France for its help. The statues are allegories : the two nations are embodied by the two women. Italy’s freedom is depicted by the chains, its enslavement by its nudity and fragility. France is calm and protective, as a country more and more powerful in Europe.
Enthroned prince crowned by two Victories. Sardonyx cameo, France (?), 13th century. From a cameo cross Jean of Berry commissioned from Hermann Ruissel for the Sainte Chapelle in Bourges ca 1416.Prince trônant, couronné par deux Victoires. Camée, sardonyx à deux couches, France (?), XIIIe siècle. Autrefois monté sur une croix aux camées réalisée par Hermann Ruissel sur commande du duc Jean de Berry pour la Sainte-Chapelle de Bourges vers 1416.
La “Mort Saint-Innocent”
Provenant du cimetière des Innocents à Paris
Albâtre
H. : 1,20 m. ; L. : 0,55 m. ; Pr. : 0,27 m.
The emaciated image of Death was standing in the middle of the cimetière des Innocents. On its shield, this poem:
“Il n’est vivant tant soit plein d’art
Ne de force pour resistance
Que je ne frappe de mon dard
Pour bailler aux vers leur pitance
Priez Dieu pour les trepasses.”
When the cemetery closed, the statue was transfered to Saint Gervais, then to Notre Dame where the artist Deseine restored the arm, and finally to the Louvre.
Head of a Grotesque, ca. 1200–1220
France, Champagne, Châlons-sur-Marne, Church of Notre-Dame-en-Vaux (?)
LimestoneThe comical effect of the muttonchop whiskers, bulbous nose, enormous eyes, and open mouth of this grotesque head demonstrate the extreme expressions found in marginal sculpture. The head resembles others on corbels supporting the roof cornice of one of the principal churches in Châlons-sur-Marne. The bold features, part of a visual language specific to medieval buildings, are intended to be seen from a distance. Recent research on marginalia suggests that such bizarre heads may have served an apotropaic* function.
* intended to “turn away” harm or evil
Abbess Seal in the Form of a Madonna
Seals were used to authenticate personal as well as state documents. The design carved on the base would be pressed into melted sealing wax that would then harden in the air. The letter “H” on this seal was probably the first letter of a name. The handle is made in the shape of a tiny statuette of the Virgin and Child.
Saint Foy abbey-church in Conques, France
The St. Foy abbey-church in Conques was a popular stop for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela.
There is little exterior ornamentation on Conques except necessary buttresses and cornices. The exception to this is the Last Judgment tympanum located above the western entrance. As pilgrimages became safer and more popular the focus on penance began to wane. Images of doom were used to remind pilgrims of the purpose of their pilgrimage. The tympanum appears to be later than the artwork in the nave. This is to be expected as construction on churches was usually begun in the east and completed in the west. The tympanum depicts Christ in Majesty presiding over the judgment of the souls of the deceased. The cross behind Christ indicates he is both Judge and Savior. Archangel Michael and a demon weigh the souls of the deceased on a scale. The righteous go to Christ’s right while the dammed go to Christ’s left where they are eaten by a Leviathan and excreted into Hell. The torture of Hell are vividly depicted including poachers being roasted by the very rabbit they poached from the monastery. The tympanum also provides an example of cloister wit. A bishop who governed the area of Conques but was not well liked by the monks of Conques is depicted as being caught in one of the nets of Hell. The virtuous are depicted less colourfully. The Virgin Mary, St. Peter and the pilgrim St. James stand on Christ’s left. Above their heads are scrolls depicting the names of the Virtues. Two gable shaped lintels act as the entrance into Heaven. In Heaven Abraham is shown holding close the souls of the righteous A pudgy abbot leads a king, possibly Charlemagne, into heaven. St. Foy is shown on the lower left kneeling in prayer and being touched by the outstretched hand of God. The tympanum was inspired by illuminated manuscripts and would have been fully colored, small traces of the color survive today.
Antoine-Louis Barye (1796-1875), Charles Cordier (1827-1905)Angelica and Rogero Mounted on the Hippogryph1855, model circa 1844Gilt, silvered, enamelled bronze, onyx marbleH. 59; W. 67; D. 37 cmParis, Musée d’Orsay© photo RMN
Barye’s bronze ornaments are undeniably among the finest produced by any nineteenth-century sculptor. His decorative skills are particularly apparent in the impressive mantelpiece decorations he produced between 1844 and 1858.
On the request of the duke of Montpensier, the younger son of Louis Philippe, Barye is believed to have designed about 1844 an earlier piece inspired by a literary theme very much in vogue at the time, taken from Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso Barye showed “the beautiful queen of Cathay, the capricious Angelica, Roland’s cold lover, whom Rogero had just snatched from death, flying through the air on the hippogryph, clasped in the arms of the amorous knight.”
Over ten years later, Barye used the same design for this piece. The daring introduction of champlevé enamel, matt or brownish gold and patinated silver gives a striking effect. It is far from the bronzes with dark patinas that Barye usually favoured. The placing and firing of the enamels required collaboration with other artists and the sculptor Charles Cordier (1827-1905) is known to have worked on this piece. The enamel gleams on Roger’s armour, on the mane, wings and tail of the hippogryph and on the scales of the orc.
This spectacular mantel set was proof of the successful union of art and industry that was prized in the mid nineteenth century. The exemplary artistic partnership prefigured the series of decorative objects produced by industrial firms such as Barbedienne or Christofle in 1860-1870, sealing the importance of polychromy in fine bronze work.
Barye made a matching pair of candlesticks for this piece, adorned with the interlaced bodies of the Three Graces, chimeras and the goddesses Juno, Minerva and Venus.
Saint Christopher, 1400–1425
French; Made in Toulouse
Silver, silver-gilt25 5/8 x 11 3/4 in. (65.1 x 29.9 cm)
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.361)
Venerated from the early centuries of Christianity, Saint Christopher—whose name means “Christ-bearer”—was honored as the protector of travelers. According to The Golden Legend, Christopher ferried a small child across a river. As he did so, the child’s weight grew increasingly heavy. When Christopher complained that it seemed as if he had carried the weight of the world, the child replied, “Wonder not, Christopher, for not only has thou borne the whole world upon thy shoulders, but Him who created the world. For I am Christ thy King.” In this imposing statuette-reliquary, Christopher strides through the water, twisting as he turns to look at the Christ Child, who holds an orb in reference to his dominion. The small leaves sprouting from the top of Christopher’s staff are a harbinger of the miracle promised by Christ—that if the saint, upon his return home, planted the staff in the ground, it would bear leaves and fruit in the morning. The hallmarks stamped on the hem of the saint’s cloak and on the statue’s base indicate that this piece was made by a goldsmith in Toulouse. The reliquary, excellently preserved, reveals a masterful treatment of the material. The soft, rich folds of the saint’s cloak belie their metal substance. The ungilded surfaces of the faces are framed by the crisp design of the hair. The engraving of the Christ Child’s short curls, the hair and flowing beard of the saint, and the fish in the turbulent water are accented by the juxtaposition of large areas of silver with bright flashes of gilding. A now-lost relic of the saint was placed in the small box covered with crystal on the statue’s base, through which the relic could be seen.
Buste en platre d’Allan Kardec réalisé au XIXe siècle en tant qu’ébauche du buste en bronze installé sur sa tombe
Allan Kardec is the pen name of the French teacher and educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail (Lyon, October 3, 1804 – Paris, March 31, 1869). He is known today as the systematizer of Spiritism for which he laid the foundation with the five books of the Spiritist Codification.
So-called Great Cameo of France. Five-layered sardonyx cameo, Roman artwork, second quarter of the 1st century AD.Grand Camée de France. Camée en sardonyx à cinq couches, œuvre romaine, deuxième quart du Ier siècle ap. J.-C.
The Great Cameo of France (French - Grand Camée de France) is a five-layered sardonyxcameo of c. 23 AD. It is 31 cm by 26.5 cm. It appears to have come to France from the treasury of the Byzantine Empire, and is first attested in the first inventory of the treasure of Sainte Chapelle before 1279. It was then known as the Triumph of Joseph at the Court of the Pharaoh. It entered the Cabinet des médailles on the order of Louis XVI on 1 May 1791 (inventory number Babelon 264). Stolen during the French Revolution, it was recovered in Amsterdam but without its original gold frame, which was replaced by a bronze one that in turn was lost until 1912. It now resides in Paris at the Bibliotheque Nationale.
