FEATURES ARCHIVE

Crowning the Century
The Paris International Exhibition of 1900 was the last of the truly great world fairs which had come to dominate the second half of the 19th century. Bringing together for public display every conceivable manifestation of the art and industry of nations, the great industrial powers of the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States hotly competed to host exhibitions each more ingenuous, opulent and diverse than the last. By 1900 the intention was to put on an exhibition worthy of ‘crowning the century’.

Display of Power
The Paris Exhibition of 1900 can be distinguished by its artistic emphasis upon the personification of human virtues. Classical figures and emblems of Greek and Roman authority were widely employed in celebration of strong government and the bonds between nations. This monumental centrepiece, which is surmounted by a winged figure of Fame, with enamel portrait plaques honouring Astronomy, Music and Poetry above three silver figural groups emblematic of Art, Industry and Agriculture and set with shields enamelled with the Arms of thirty-six countries, perfectly encapsulates the principals of the 1900 Exposition Universelle in its personification of human virtues, opulent triumphalism and commemoration of the participating nations.

Milanese Master
This centrepiece remained for many years apparently unrecorded in a private Milanese collection and was only recently rediscovered by Christie’s. This connection to the city of Milan, together with the exceptionally fine detail of the silver and bronze work, similarities to recorded examples and documentary evidence, supports an attribution to the prominent Milanese cesellatore, orafo and bronzista Eugenio Bellosio (1847-1947). A pupil of Giovanni Bellezza (1807-1876), who completed the magnificent ‘Altar of the Madonna dell'Albero’ for Milan Cathedral, Bellosio also worked at the Duomo di Milano for which he produced twelve monumental torchères in gilt and patinated bronze. Other documented pieces by Bellosio include a gilt-bronze urn for the Church of Santi Martiri in Arona, made in 1874, and a table service dating from the 1880s in the collection of the Civiche Raccolte d'Arte Applicata at the Castello Sforzesco, Milan.

Secret Submission
Having remained unrecorded for many years it is not presently known who commissioned the centrepiece, though it is intriguing to speculate it might have been submitted to the 1900 Exhibition by Bellosio’s workshop for display in the Italian Pavilion or, given that the inscriptions are in French and it is mounted with the arms representing the participating nations, it might have been commissioned by the organising committee for prominent display in one of the principal exhibition spaces such as the ‘Grand Palais’, ‘Trocadéro’ or ‘Palais des Machines’. Conclusively, a journalist for the magazine IIllustrazione Italiana wrote to Bellosio in October 1900 and, referring specifically to the centrepiece by the title it bears - Apothéose du Genie, commended it as one of the most beautiful objects he had seen at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. The scale, exquisite craftsmanship and commemorative purpose of this monumental centrepiece position it as a defining object of the 1900 Exposition Universelle – the greastest ‘great exhibition’ of them all.