L. Gregoire Sculptures

A very fine French antique patinated bronze figural group titled Pro Patria by Edouard Drouot (French, 1859-1945) late 19th century. Depicting a figure of winged Victory with a ...

An exceptional Continental 19th century Grand Tour Period patinated Bronze, Black Belgian, and Rosso Alicante marble statue of Perseus and Medusa. This handsome statue of Perseus hav...

19th century French bronze sculpture "Perseus Freeing Andromeda" by Jean-Louis Grégoire (French, 1840-1890). Signed on base L Grgoire. Subject matter is "Perseus and Andromeda...

This elegant 19th-century gilded bronze sculptural group is a stunning piece of art. It is mounted on white Carrara marble, which enhances its overall beauty and grandeur. The sculpt...

A fine over-lifesize patinated bronze Greco roman revival style standing half-figure of Andromeda, probably French, probably late 19th century or early 20th century. The heavily fine...

French Grand Tour bronze group of Nessus abducting Deianira after Giambologna on marble base. After the model by Giambologna Circa 1880 French Footnote: The first documented example of this famous bronze group was made by Giovanni Bologna...

Patinated bronze sculpture of young boy trimming the wings of a dove by Gregoire. This bronze known as "Captivity" represents the clipping of wings and forceful fidelity. Beautifully...

An Incredible and Large Gilt and Patinated Bronze Group of Gloria Victis, a Winged Figure of Victory with a Fallen Warrior. This incredible bronze piece was cast after a model by Maarius-Jean-Antonin Mercié, This model is signed 'F. BARBEDIENNE FONDEUR PARIS' demonstrating that it was cast by Ferdinand Barbedienne's foundry, the best bronzier of the 19th century. The base is further signed 'A. Mercie' and stamped 'Réduction Mécanique' with an inscription of '659'. The figure is mounted on a Belgian noir marble base with various stepped edges. Gloria Victis is one the most well-known and important bronze casts of the 19th Century. The quality of this particular model is absolutely incredible and all the marking indicate that this particular piece is one of the finest produced by the Foundry. A student of Jouffroy and de Falguière at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Marius-Jean-Antonin Mercié (1845-1916) won the Grand Prix de Rome at 23 years old with his work Thésée vainqueur du Minotaure. In 1872, he sent the plaster model of his work David vainqueur to the Salon, for which he won the first class medal. At the same time, he received La croix de la Légion d'honneur at the Villa Medici. His return to Paris, in 1874, issued in a long and brilliant career with numerous commissions, notably the monuments for Louis-Philippe and Queen Marie-Amélie for the Royal Chapel at Dreux (1886). By the age of 30 Mercié was already very well-known and his Gloria Victis received resounding success when it was exhibited at the Salon, in 1874 (in plaster) and in 1875 (in bronze). This work exalted the heroism and the patriotic sentiments aroused by the disasters of 1870. His predilection for patriotic subjects is shown in many of his works such as Quand même...

Inscribed Ary Bitter (1883-1973) with The L.N. and J.L. Foundry, Paris.

A Patinated Bronze Figural Group of ‘Gloria Victis’ (‘Glory to the Vanquished’), Cast by Ferdinand Barbedienne from the Model by Marius-Jean-Antonin Mercié (French, 1845-1916). ‘Gloria Victis’ (‘Glory to the Vanquished’). Bronze, gilt and dark brown patina. Signed 'A. Mercié', with foundry inscription 'F. BARBEDIENNE, Fondeur. Paris.' and A. Collas reduction cachet. The integral base titled 'GLORIA VICTIS'. This cast is part of a limited edition by the Barbedienne Foundry. France. Circa 1880. ‘Gloria Victis’ is one of the most recognisable and important works of sculpture of the nineteenth century and a definitive image of France’s historic national identity. The figure of glory, winged and wearing armour, carries a dying young warrior heavenwards towards fame and immortality. The compositional daring of the group must be admired for balancing two figures on the minimal support of one foot, wings spread in the moment before taking flight. Mercié was a student at the French Academy of Rome when the Prussians invaded France in 1870. Shortly after the war had begun, he executed a group depicting the figure of Fame supporting a victorious soldier. When news reached Mercié in Rome that the French had surrendered, he decided to alter his group, replacing the victorious soldier with a defeated casualty, thus transforming an allegory of ‘Glory to the Victors’ into one of ‘Glory to the Vanquished’. Completed in 1872, a year after the defeat of French soldiers against the Prussian army, the statue personifies a defeated but heroic France. The title is also a reversal of the famous formula, ‘Vae Victis’ (Death to the Vanquished), which the Gallic general Brennus exclaimed upon defeating the Romans in 390 BC. The figure of the fallen soldier was thought to represent Henri Regnault, a fellow sculptor of Mercié who was killed on the last day of fighting. Measuring 317 cm. high the original group of ‘Gloria Victis’ was unveiled in plaster at the Salon of 1872. It was bought by the City of Paris for the sum of twelve thousand francs and then cast in bronze by Victor Thiébaut for eight thousand five hundred francs. The bronze was exhibited at the Salon in 1875 and first placed in Montholon Square in the 8th arrondissement. In 1884 it was transferred to the courtyard of the Hôtel de Ville and in 1930, it entered the collection of the Musée du Petit Palais, where it can be seen to this day. The Thiébaut Frères foundry also cast Gloria Victis bronzes for the cities of Niort (requested 1881) Bordeaux (requested 1883), Châlons-sur-Marne (today, Châlons-en-Champagne; requested 1890), and Cholet (requested 1901). In 1905, the Danish brewer and art collector Carl Jacobsen was permitted to have an exact cast made of the original sculpture in Paris, on condition that the base was made 2 cm lower and bore the inscription “Original tilhører Paris By” (The original belongs to the City of Paris). It too was cast by the Thiébaut Frères foundry. Gloria Victis was one of Jacobsen’s most important and his last acquisition. Today it has been returned to its original position in the Winter Garden at Glyptoteket, Copenhagen, Denmark. The full-size plaster was shown again at the Paris Expositon universelle of 1878 alongside a bronze reduction by Barbedienne. By this time Antonin Mercié had entered into a commercial edition contract with the Ferdinand Babedienne foundry to produce bronze reductions of Gloria Victis, his most famous work. Gloria Victis is first recorded to have been produced in three sizes and by 1886 Barbedienne’s ‘Catalogue des Bronzes D’Art’ lists six sizes measuring 3/5, 9/20, 7/20, 3/10, 6/25 and 2/10, of the original. These reductions were produced by an invention of Barbedienne’s business partner Achille Collas. The Collas reducing machine was a type of complex mechanical pantograph lathe that enabled sculpture to be mathematically measured and transcribed to scale, in the round, thus making a reduced size plaster from which a bronze could be cast. Mercié's modern sculpture had become an instant classic, even receiving an entry in the Nouveau Larousse Illustré. The success of the group undoubtedly lay in the fact that it was admired not just on an aesthetic level, but also on a patriotic level, particularly in its commemoration of heroism in defeat. Immediately ‘Gloria Victis’ was recognised as a national artwork, capable of arousing patriotism and casts were ordered from Barbedienne as local memorials commemorating the war’s dead for cities across France. ‘Gloria Victis’ was considered so much a part of France’s national identity that for the 1900 Paris Exhibition, Ferdinand Barbedienne’s nephew Gustave Leblanc, loaned a bronze example to feature as part of l’Exposition centennale de l’art français. Literature: For an interesting account of the process of creating a reduction in bronze of the Gloria Victis by Barbedienne and illustrations of the casting and finishing of the bronze see: 'Ferdinand Barbedienne': Theodore Child; Harper's new monthly magazine, Volume 73, Issue 436, September 1886. ‘Contemporary French Sculptors’: The Century, Volume 33, Issue 3, Jan 1887. ‘Modern French Sculpture’: Harper's new monthly magazine, Volume 76, Issue 452, January 1888. S, Lami, ‘Dictionnaire des sculpteurs de l'Ecole française au dix-neuvième siècle’, Tome III. G.-M., Paris, 1914, p. 432. Peter Fusco and H.W. Janson, The Romantics to Rodin: French Nineteenth Century Sculpture from North...

This is a bust of Psyche in patinated bronze by the founders Boyer and Rolland. It represents a young woman wearing butterfly wings in her hair with her head turned towards an insect placed on her shoulder. The little butterfly probably represents Cupid. It is an evocation of the myth Cupid and Psyche. The sculpture rests on a red marble base placed on a rectangular stand. It is a sand casting made in the foundry of Boyer and Rolland whose mark is on the back of the bust. On the side, it is annotated Mm Léon Bertaux...

This whimsical sculpture of a stag is from the famed Werkstatte Hagenauer Wien.