An important gilt and patinated bronze girandole with a figure of Isis/Demeter
Cast in several parts and screw-mounted. Square plinth resting on four winged lion supports, the angles with ram's heads. All four faces with relief appliques depicting offering scenes. The shaft formed as a large figure of a woman holding a garland in both hands and balancing an urn on her head. The urn decorated with three Medusa mascarons, from the mouths of which issue curved candle branches terminating in winged griffons and octagonal drip pans. Drilled for wiring. H 100.5, D ca. 33.5 cm.
Paris, attributed to Louis-Auguste Hervieu (1765 - 1811), c. 1807.
In his fascinating 2005 essay, Jean-Dominique Augarde shed light on the legal situation and the trade in sculptural bronzes in Paris in the late 18th century. At that time, the production of cast bronze had reached an unsurpassable level of perfection. We still admire the fantastic chasing and gilding of 18th century French bronze today, as documented by this outstanding girandole. Augarde was able to show that some of the most popular models changed ownership numerous times within a very short period, i.e. the person who developed the model was not necessarily the same person who commissioned the casting or produced it themselves a few years later. In extreme cases, this led to the same model being attributed to Galle, Feuchère, Ravrio or Thomire. Since there are still a great many foundries that we do not know by name, signed bronzes provide us with the only clues. Conversely, we also know the names of numerous makers of high-quality works to whom we cannot attribute any products. Louis-Auguste Hervieu was among them.
Louis-Auguste was the heir to a workshop founded by his father Louis-Barthélemy Hervieu, who died in 1779. The company was famous for its fine chasing and counted all the great bronziers among its customers. The young Louis-Auguste took on sole ownership of the company after a long time in family ownership. He specialised in figurative pendulum clocks and candelabra and quickly doubled his production, often by modifying and recombining models. We can attribute objects to him due to the existence of a few works monogrammed L.A.H. and because of certain casting details that were typical of his production. Another chandelier of the same type, with slight modifications, is housed in the Grande Chancellerie de la Légion d'honneur. There, a winged figure of psyche carrying two torches wears an even taller candelabra crown. The figure and the base are both identical to those in the girandole presented here. Louis-August Hervieu died unexpectedly at the height of his creative prowess at the age of 46 on 12th April 1811.
Literature
Cf. Dumonthier, Les bronzes du mobilier national, Paris 1911, pl. XVI, illus. 1, and pl. XIX, illus. 3, for the candelabra from Saint-Cloud palace with the same figure carrying two torches without the girandole surmount on the same plinth.
Cf. Ottomeyer/Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. I, Munich 1986, p. 334, illus. 5.2.15. The authors mention an identical girandole with candelabrum in the Palais de la Légion d'honneur in Paris "Die Leuchterarme entspringen aus Medusenmarken in Form von Greifenprotomen(…)".
Cf. Augarde, « Une nouvelle vision du bronze et des bronziers sous le Directoire et l’Empire », in L’Estampille/L’Objet d’art 398/2005, p. 62 ff.
Cf. Dupuy-Baylet, L’Heure, le Feu, la Lumière, les bronzes du mobilier national, 1800-1870, Dijon 2010, p. 28 f.
For the plinth cf. Musée du Louvre inv. Ma 239.2, for a similar a triangular marble base from ancient Italy with almost identical ram's heads at the angles and reliefs of dancing maenads that may have served as the inspiration for this design.