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Lot Essay
With highly expressive figures attributed to the sculptor, Auguste-Louis-Mathurin Moreau (d. 1917), these monumental torchères are evocative of superb quality and ingenuity of design achieved by the great Parisian bronziers during the last quarter of the 19th century.
The present pair may be attributed to the prolific firm of Ferdinand Barbedienne, evidenced by the sale of a nearly identical pair of torchères by the firm which sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 22 April 2010, lot 389 ($314,500). Additionally, the 1870s and 1880s saw no shortage of output from the acclaimed fondeur and the firm achieved a heightened level of opulence and a greater ambition in the scale the scale of their works. Consequently, Barbedienne began to include a variety of lampadaires or porte-torchères by Salon artists of the era. In addition to casting works by the Moreau dynasty of sculptors, the foundry produced a series of figural torchères sculpted by Emile-Coriolan-Hippolyte Guillemin (d. 1907) which appear in their 1886 catalogue.
The exquisite quality of the casting of the herm figures coupled with the luxuriant ormolu-embellishments of the flower-filled vases and trailing flower garlands to the pedestals dates them to the last quarter of the 19th century and shows the hand of a masterful sculpteur-statuaire. The popularity of the form – a minimally-draped female herm with putto attendant - was sufficiently documented to inspire the New York firm of Edward F. Caldwell related torchères in marble and bronze in the early 20th century, a pair of which (lacking their flower basket candelabra fitment) sold Christie's, New York, 18-19 April 2012, lot 413 ($146,500).
The Moreau dynasty of painters and sculptors included Auguste-Louis-Mathurin Moreau and his older brothers Mathurin and Hyppolyte-François, who studied under their father Jean-Baptiste and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Moreau fathered two sons, Louis-Auguste and Hippolyte – also sculptors – who followed in their father and uncles’ footsteps.
The present pair may be attributed to the prolific firm of Ferdinand Barbedienne, evidenced by the sale of a nearly identical pair of torchères by the firm which sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 22 April 2010, lot 389 ($314,500). Additionally, the 1870s and 1880s saw no shortage of output from the acclaimed fondeur and the firm achieved a heightened level of opulence and a greater ambition in the scale the scale of their works. Consequently, Barbedienne began to include a variety of lampadaires or porte-torchères by Salon artists of the era. In addition to casting works by the Moreau dynasty of sculptors, the foundry produced a series of figural torchères sculpted by Emile-Coriolan-Hippolyte Guillemin (d. 1907) which appear in their 1886 catalogue.
The exquisite quality of the casting of the herm figures coupled with the luxuriant ormolu-embellishments of the flower-filled vases and trailing flower garlands to the pedestals dates them to the last quarter of the 19th century and shows the hand of a masterful sculpteur-statuaire. The popularity of the form – a minimally-draped female herm with putto attendant - was sufficiently documented to inspire the New York firm of Edward F. Caldwell related torchères in marble and bronze in the early 20th century, a pair of which (lacking their flower basket candelabra fitment) sold Christie's, New York, 18-19 April 2012, lot 413 ($146,500).
The Moreau dynasty of painters and sculptors included Auguste-Louis-Mathurin Moreau and his older brothers Mathurin and Hyppolyte-François, who studied under their father Jean-Baptiste and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Moreau fathered two sons, Louis-Auguste and Hippolyte – also sculptors – who followed in their father and uncles’ footsteps.