Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse Lighting

Inscribed A. Carrier and Anc. Mon Colin éditeur – fondeur, Paris Measures: Torchère height 193 cm (75.9 in.), base height 29 cm (11.4 in.), diameter base 40 cm (15.7 in.). 2 torchères + 2 bases Exceptional pair of "Night" and "Day" female torchère-holders, made in dark patinated bronze. Each dressed with antique style drapes, and holding up a gilt-bronze five light-arms candelabra. Day, bareheaded and with braided hair ; Night, the head covered by her coat and holding poppy flowers and fruits symbolizing sleep. Standing on a molded pedestal. These female torchère-holders repeat a common theme created by Carrier-Belleuse, what model for one of the two shapes was presented for the first time at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867. It was then used on a big clock made in collaboration with G. Viot company. The bronze figure holds a large pendulum instead of a candelabrum. (reproduced and commented in 1851-1900 Le arti decorative alle grandi Esposizioni Universalli, D. Alcouffe, Idea Libri, p° 78, n° 256.) Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824-1887), nick-named the “Clodion of the 19th century”, was a very prolific sculptor, treating his decorative objects and his portraits with equal naturalistic rigor, full of charm and life. He entered the Paris Fine-Arts school in 1840, where he studied sculpture under David d’Angers. From the early 1860s, he won success with his sculptures presented at the French Artists Salon and particularly during the 1867 Salon, where he was awarded a “médaille d’honneur” and the “Légion d’honneur” for his Messiah. The “new” Paris redesigned by the Baron Haussmann during Napoleon IIIrd’s reign, commissioned many of Carriere-Belleuse’s masterpieces: at the Louvre palace with the high-relief “L’Abondance” on the Flore Pavilion (1865), or the sumptuous decoration made for the most famous Parisian palace on the Champs-Elysées Avenue, owned by the Marchioness of Païva. But it is especially with the torchères-statues of the large staircase of the Paris Opera house (1873), recently built by Charles Garnier, that Carrier-Belleuse meets a huge success with the Parisian public. In the catalogue of the 1878 Universal Exhibition an art critic praised Carrier-Belleuse and added: “Even the English come from London to ask him to work for them”. His busts, nudes, group compositions as well as his candelabras, vases and clocks, all chased remarkably, had a considerable success during the Second Empire. Emile Colin, a renowned founder installed since 1843, No. 29 Sévigné Street in Paris, cast as soon as 1855 for the most well-know masters of France sculpture, such A.E. Carrier-Belleuse (Le Zouave), J. Pradier (Les Trois Grâces, Vénus consolant l’Amour) or J.B. Carpeaux since 1875 (L’Enfant au cor), as well as the famous Parisian silversmith Christofle. Colin used to stamp his bronzes of the mention “Emile Colin & Cie” from 1882 until 1898. That mark became later “M. Colin & Cie” from 1898 until 1906, then “Ancienne Maison Colin...