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Lot Essay
The present fire-place is highly inspired by the two monuments sculpted by Michelangelo in the Medici's private chapel, Basilica di San
Lorenzo, Florence, for Giuliano and Lorenzo de' Medici's tombs.
Born at Anizy le Château in 1827, Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (Carrier de Belleuse) (d.1887) studied under David d'Angers at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris from 1840, and first exhibited at the Salon in 1851. From 1850 to 1854, he worked in England, under Léon Arnoux at Minton's porcelain works, and thereafter continued to model many small figures and groups for production in terracotta and porcelain as well as bronze. One of the most prolific and versatile sculptors of the 19th century, he made his reputation with the group Salve Regina, shown at the 1861 Salon. His later works Bacchante (1863) and The Messiah (1867) brought him medals and the Légion d'Honneur. In the last years of the Second Empire, he executed many public commissions and was highly regarded by Napoleon III, who referred to him as 'our Clodion'. He worked in all medium, both traditional and modern. His combination of materials, such as porcelain, for the features of his bronze statuettes anticipated the chryselephantine figures of the turn of the century. In his later years, he was director of works of art at the Sevres porcelain factory. He employed a galaxy of rising young sculptors as assistants in his vast output of decorative bronzes and architectural sculpture, amongst whom Rodin and Mathurin Moreau.
Carrier-Belleuse, together with the sculptors Manguin and Dalou, executed a comparable fire-place for the dinning room of the Hôtel de la Marquise de Païva, Paris, between 1856 and 1866. The present fireplace is also strongly influenced by the group sculpted circa 1863 by Carpeaux for the Pavillon de Flore, Paris, and entitled La France impériale portant la lumière dans le monde et protégeant l'Agriculture et la Science.
Lorenzo, Florence, for Giuliano and Lorenzo de' Medici's tombs.
Born at Anizy le Château in 1827, Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (Carrier de Belleuse) (d.1887) studied under David d'Angers at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris from 1840, and first exhibited at the Salon in 1851. From 1850 to 1854, he worked in England, under Léon Arnoux at Minton's porcelain works, and thereafter continued to model many small figures and groups for production in terracotta and porcelain as well as bronze. One of the most prolific and versatile sculptors of the 19th century, he made his reputation with the group Salve Regina, shown at the 1861 Salon. His later works Bacchante (1863) and The Messiah (1867) brought him medals and the Légion d'Honneur. In the last years of the Second Empire, he executed many public commissions and was highly regarded by Napoleon III, who referred to him as 'our Clodion'. He worked in all medium, both traditional and modern. His combination of materials, such as porcelain, for the features of his bronze statuettes anticipated the chryselephantine figures of the turn of the century. In his later years, he was director of works of art at the Sevres porcelain factory. He employed a galaxy of rising young sculptors as assistants in his vast output of decorative bronzes and architectural sculpture, amongst whom Rodin and Mathurin Moreau.
Carrier-Belleuse, together with the sculptors Manguin and Dalou, executed a comparable fire-place for the dinning room of the Hôtel de la Marquise de Païva, Paris, between 1856 and 1866. The present fireplace is also strongly influenced by the group sculpted circa 1863 by Carpeaux for the Pavillon de Flore, Paris, and entitled La France impériale portant la lumière dans le monde et protégeant l'Agriculture et la Science.