Marius-Jean-Antonin Mercie (French, 1845-1916)

Gloria Victis

Details

Marius-Jean-Antonin Mercie (French, 1845-1916)
Gloria Victis
signed 'A. Mercié' and stamped with 'F. Barbedienne Fondeur, Paris 674' and stamped with 'Réduction Mecanique A. Collas Bréveté' (on the base)
bronze with brown and parcel-gilt patina
height: 36 3/4 in. (93.5 cm.)
height of green marble pedestal: 46 3/4 in. (119 cm.)

Literature

P. Fusco and H.W. Janson, The Romantics to Rodin, Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, 1980, pp. 304-6 (another cast illustrated). Spring Exhibition Catalogue, Shepherd Gallery Associates, New York, 1985, p. 154.
H. Vollmer, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig, 1986, vol. 24, p. 408.
P. Kjellberg, Les Bronzes du XIXème Siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 489 (another cast illustrated).
Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994, no. 149 (a smaller cast illustrated).
ed. J. Turner, The Dictionary of Art, Macmillan Publishers Limited, London, 1996, p. 147.
E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, Paris, 1999, vol. IX, p. 499.

Lot Essay

One of the most successful French sculptors of his generation, Mercié studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and at the Académie de France in Rome. As early as 1868 he was awarded the Prix de Rome which was soon to be followed by numerous outstanding achievements, such as the cross of the Légion d'honneur, the Medal of Honor at the 1874 Salon - for the Gloria Victis sculpture group - and the Grand Prize at the 1878 Exposition Universelle. In 1900 he became a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and in 1913 he was made the President of the Société des Artistes Français.

The Gloria Victis sculpture group was executed shortly following the Franco-Prussian war. Initially Mercié planned the group to consist of Fame and a victorious soldier but following France's surrender the soldier was replaced with a defeated soldier. Replicas of this classic composition were used on monuments to the dead of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 in many French towns, including Niort, Deux-Sèvres, Agen, Lotet-Garonne and Bordeaux.

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