A RECTANGULAR FRENCH BRONZE PLAQUE OF THE CRUCIFIXION, by Jean-Robert Gambier, after a painting by Nicolas Poussin, Christ on the cross in the centre, flanked by the thieves Gestas and Dismas, mourners and Roman soldiers gathered below, signed and dated I.R. Gambier 1734, and with two stamps with the initials IRG surmounted by a fleur-de-lys and a crown, in a giltmetal frame embellished with cartouches and foliate decoration at the corners, and surmounted by two cherubim on billowing clouds (wear to gilding of frame), circa 1734

Details
A RECTANGULAR FRENCH BRONZE PLAQUE OF THE CRUCIFIXION, by Jean-Robert Gambier, after a painting by Nicolas Poussin, Christ on the cross in the centre, flanked by the thieves Gestas and Dismas, mourners and Roman soldiers gathered below, signed and dated I.R. Gambier 1734, and with two stamps with the initials IRG surmounted by a fleur-de-lys and a crown, in a giltmetal frame embellished with cartouches and foliate decoration at the corners, and surmounted by two cherubim on billowing clouds (wear to gilding of frame), circa 1734
15¼ x 11in. (38.7 x 27.9cm.)
Literature
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
A. Mérot, Nicolas Poussin, London, 1990

Lot Essay

The present relief is a fine cast from a series depicting the life of Christ, produced by the silversmith Jean-Louis Gambier. Gambier, who based each relief on a painting from the collection of Louis XV, has in this case used a Crucifixion scene painted by Nicolas Poussin, commissioned in 1644 and presently housed in the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut. The meticulous attention to detail of Gambier's bronze Crucifixion betrays his training as a silversmith; he has even used his stamp to mark the final product.

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