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

Gloria Victis

Details

Marius-Jean-Antonin Mercié (French, 1845-1916)
Gloria Victis
signed 'A. Mercié' and stamped 'F. Barbedienne, Fondeur. Paris 1846' and stamped with 'Réduction Mecanique A. Collas Bréveté' (on the base)
bronze with brown and parcel-gilt patina
height: 42½ in. (108 cm.)
height of green marble pedestal: 41½ in. (105.5 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. XXIV, 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 École 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 École 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, Lot et Garonne and Bordeaux.

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