Allegory of Mechanics, Raoul Verlet

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Allegory of Mechanics, Raoul Verlet

About the Item

Raoul Verlet (Paris, 1856–1930.) Allegory of mechanics, 1913. Original plaster cast. Measure: H.181, W. 190, D. 115 cm. In memory of the inventor Léon Bollée (1870-1913), known as the “French Edison”, Raoul Verlet (1857–1923) signed in 1913 a powerful allegory of mechanics, whose reach impregnated the intellectual and artistic fields through scientism and economic breakthroughs during the 19th century. Raoul Verlet, born in Angoulême, received an academic formation at the Fine Arts School in Paris, at Cavelier’s studio, and then at Barrias’. The academic style he developed throughout his career was strongly influenced by the eclecticism of the end of the 19th century. As a child, he already aspired to be a sculptor and settled in Paris. At the Paris Salon, in 1885, his funeral sculpture dedicated to Mrs Lazare Weiller turned out to be quite controversial, consisting in a sculpted mausoleum taking up the shape of a bed, where an embracing couple is lying amid creased sheets. Very far away from the standards of the affluent middle-class of the time, his work creates scandal (“a tomb carved in 1885 was criticized sharply, said Thiébaut-Sisson” in “Phantoms of Pierre: sculpture in Angouleme 1860-1930 by Béatrice Roslin.) However, he was awarded the same year a prize by the War Memorial committee in Charente. This allegory of armed France installed in Angouleme is close to our allegory to mechanics, notably when considering the touchy and impassive glance of the statue, wrapped in its veil of deep mourning. Verlet will have a very abundant and varied production, from decorative statuette, stately monuments to burial monuments. He realized the monument dedicated to Maupassant in 1884, set in Parc Monceau in Paris, as well as in 1899 the monument to Adrien Dubouché, now preserved at the Limoges Museum, just as the lively and expressive bust of the Countess of Gramont whose he attended the literary salons. Consequently Raoul Verlet’ virtuosity and proficiency proves here substantiated with this Allegory of the Mechanics. Bertrand Bayer, author of many works on the sculpture, regarded the latter as “one of the most beautiful faces of the French statuary”. The dignity in the grief of the mourner in Sainte-Croix Cimetry in Le Mans thus eloquently conveys the pain caused by the tragic decease of the brilliant inventor of the calculating machine at 19 years (on which the Allegory’s elbow rests); genious researcher and inventor which produced the first French cars and conceived with the Wright brothers the first aircraft engines and their derivatives. Bollée's family were well known bellfounders and his father, Amédée Bollée (1844–1917), was a major pioneer in the automobile industry, manufactoring several steam cars. Both Léon Bollée and his older brother Amédée-Ernest- Marie (1867–1926) became automobile manufacturers. In 1887 Bollée began working on three calculating machines: the Direct Multiplier, the Calculating Board and the Arithmographe. Bollée's Multiplier was the second successful direct-multiplying calculator (the first was Ramón Verea's), being awarded a gold medal at the 1889 Paris Universal Exhibition. Three versions of the large multiplier and several smaller machines were developed by Bollée and the devices were patented in France, Belgium, Germany, the USA and Hungary. Bollée and his father entered a steam car, La Nouvelle, in the 1895 Paris Bordeaux–Paris race and Bollée went on to develop a gasoline-powered vehicle in 1895 which was entered in the 1896 Paris–Marseille–Paris.Bollée founded the company Léon Bollée Automobiles in 1895 in Le Mans. In 1896 he patented and began manufacturing the threewheeled vehicles he had invented in 1895 which he called the Voiturette (which can be translated as autoette). These had a horizontal motor and were equipped, for the first time, with rubber tires. A new model with many modifications was brought to the 1897 Paris-Dieppe race, driven by Paul Jamin,[3] and the Paris-Trouville race and won both events with respective speeds of 24 mph (39 km/h) and 28 mph (45 km/h). Related work : Allegory of Mechanics, 1913, by Raoul Verlet (1859-1930), Sainte-Croix Cimetery, Le Mans, France.

Creator:
Charles Raoul Verlet (Sculptor)
Dimensions:
Height: 71.26 in (181 cm)Width: 74.81 in (190 cm)Depth: 45.28 in (115 cm)
Style:
Other (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Plaster
Place of Origin:
France
Period:
1910-1919
Date of Manufacture:
1913
Condition:
A big hole in the bottom, sculpture to place front of a wall Recent restoration : only a cleaning in the total respect of tradition.
Seller Location:
Saint-Ouen, FR
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU200735045573