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Edme Anthony NOEL French Art Deco Bronze Retiary Sculpture, 1875

About the Item

French bronze retiary sculpture by Edmé-Anthony-Paul NOEL, known as Tony Noël, France, ca.1875. Height : 21.85"(55.5cm), Width : 19.5"(49.6cm), Depth : 10.6"(27cm). Signed "Tony Noël" on the base (see photo). This sculpture is one of the editions of the work which, presented in plaster (n°3074), won the first class medal at the Salon of 1874. As Henry Jouin (1841-1913), an art historian specializing in sculpture, rightly wrote, "plaster is used by the sculptor, but it is like clay, a transitional material. Any plaster figure presupposes a model that preceded it, a work that will follow it. Plaster is useful." It is therefore not surprising that Tony Noël represented it at the Salon of 1875 (n°3306), this time in bronze, cast by Matifat, and 110 cm high. The City of Paris then acquired it and placed it in the Square du Temple in 1877. Unfortunately, the Second World War was fatal to it: it was melted down like many other Parisian statues in 1942, by the Vichy Regime. Leaning strongly forward, arms carried from left to right, ready to throw the net, head turned towards his opponent, gaze fixed on him, the Retiarius, powerfully muscular, all his strength concentrated, is ready for action. Wearing a headband, he neither wore the ordinary tunic of the retiaries, nor the subligaculum (a sort of short pants). He simply wears a leather belt. Nor did he wear the galerus, a flexible shoulder shield, on his left shoulder. To better handle the net, he got rid of his manica, supposed to protect his left forearm from his opponent's sword blows. Barefoot, he is in contact with the sand of the arena. He also does not wear his pugio, this small dagger that the retiary only draws in the final combat. However, very often, retiaries do not bother with it. Raw force in all its expression and power. Edme-Anthony-Paul Noël, known as Tony Noël, is a French sculptor born January 24, 1845 in Paris, and died October 3, 1909 in Villebon-sur-Yvette. Tony Noël entered the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts in Paris, where he was a student of Eugène Guillaume, Eugène-Louis Lequesne and Jules Cavelier. In 1868, he was crowned with the first prize of Rome for his Theseus conqueror of the Minotaur. He began at the Salon of French Artists in 1872, which he abandoned in 1891 for the salon of the Société nationale des Beaux-arts where he exhibited regularly until 1901. He was rewarded with a second class medal in 1872, a medal first class in 1874, a second class medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1878, a grand prize at the Universal Exhibition of 1889. He was appointed professor of modeling at the evening classes at the École des Beaux-arts in 1905. Tony Noël died in Villebon-sur-Yvette on October 3, 1909 and was buried in Paris at the Père-Lachaise cemetery (35th division). Works in public collections In France Alès, Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville: Monument to Louis Pasteur. A subscription, with the support of farmers, industrialists and workers in the southeast, was launched to erect a monument to Pasteur; he must evoke his stay in Alès from 1865-1869 where he was called by the chemist Jean-Baptiste Dumas to study a disease of Cévennes silkworms; the bronze group is by Tony Noël. This group is the only one in the city to be spared during the requisition of bronze statues and busts. Bayeux: Monument to Alain Chartier, in bronze, inaugurated on July 16, 1899 in honor of the patriotic poet Alain Chartier, sent to cast iron under the Vichy regime, as part of the mobilization of non-ferrous metals. Chantilly, Chantilly Castle: André Le Nôtre, between 1877 and 1882, marble statue commissioned in 1877 by the Duke of Aumale for the north parterre of the park; Molière marble statue commissioned by the Duke of Aumale in 1886 for the park. Chaumont, place Goguenheim: Monument to the colonial wars, 1898, cast iron (A. Dupuy architect). The casting was carried out by E.Capitain-Geny. Dunkirk, Museum of Fine Arts: Romeo and Juliet, Salon of 1875, marble group. Guise: Monument to Jean-Baptiste André Godin, inaugurated on June 2, 1889, the monument was raised by the Familistériens in homage to Godin after his death in 1888. Decorated with the bronze statue of the founder by Amédée Doublemard and Tony Noël, and bas-reliefs by Doublemard alone representing two major scenes from the character's life. The statue was unbolted by the German Army during the First World War to be melted down, then reconstructed by Félix Charpentier, a student of Doublemard. The intact monument was again inaugurated on September 17, 1922, at the same time as the Familistère War Memorial. It was acquired by the town of Guise at the same time as the central Place du Familistère in 1981. La Grand-Combe: Monument to Mathieu Lacroix, 1899. Occitan poet, friend of Frédéric Mistral, he was able to touch the miners of La Grand-Combe with his poetry entitled “Paouré Martino” (Poor Martine) which tells how a miner died in a burst of firedamp, and how one comes to learn of this misfortune to his wife Martine. They made a quest among them to erect a monument to him. The bronze bust was destroyed by the German occupiers in 1943 and subsequently replaced by the work of a contemporary sculptor. La Tronche, Hébert museum: Ernest Hébert, bronze bust. Laval, Science Museum: Sculpture and Painting overlooking the museum porch. Le Havre, André-Malraux Museum of Modern Art: Complaint of Orpheus, Salon of 1886, marble statue, presented at the Universal Exhibition of 1889. Limoges, town hall: L’Orfèvrerie and L’Émaillerie, two allegorical figures adorning the pediment of the main facade. Montier-en-Der: Monument to the dead. A schoolboy from the school battalion in uniform, a rifle in hand, receives instructions from a staff commander who shows the child the direction of the Vosges blue line. The commune of Montier-en-Der accepted on September 10, 1898 the proposal of Commander Linet, municipal councilor, to have a monument erected at its own expense and without any financial participation from the commune to pay tribute to the victims of the town. This group was made by the Durenne foundry in Sommevoire. Paris : . Pere Lachaise Cemetery :Music, high relief adorning the tomb of the composer Napoleon Henri Reber, representing a young woman rising into the air and holding, in her left hand, a broken lyre and a laurel branch in her right hand. The monument, inaugurated on May 26, 1883, was built to the plans of the architect A. Jal; Thomas Couture, 1878, bronze bust for the painter's funerary monument by Louis-Ernest Barrias; Louis-Constant Sévin, bronze bust adorning the tomb of the sculptor buried on November 8, 1888; Félix-Charles Berthélémy, bronze bust adorning the tomb of the musician, professor at the Paris Conservatory ; Émile Eudes, bronze bust, cast by the Thiébaut Frères foundry, adorning the tomb of the general of the Paris Commune, who died in 1888, . boulevard Saint-Martin: Monument to Baron Isidore Taylor, inaugurated on November 7, 1907. As a testimony of their recognition, five mutual aid associations founded by Isidore Taylor, had a monument built (Constant Moyaux, architect) with a bronze bust whose was produced by Tony Noël. Melted in 1941 during the Occupation, the bust was replaced in 1945 by a stone replica. . Grand Palais, pediment: Apollo and Music, 1900 (work missing). . town hall: Le Génie de l’Agriculture, on the facade of the intermediate building on the second floor, commissioned August 10, 1879. . Ranelagh garden: The Meditation, 1882, marble statue. The plaster cast was exhibited at the Salon de la Société des beaux-arts in 1877. . Louvre Palace: in 1876, for the decoration of the new facade on the north side following the fire and destruction of the Tuileries, the architect Lefuel ordered the pediment from Jules Franceschi, from Jules Isidore Lafrance La Prudence (first floor) and La Loi (second floor) and to Tony Noël the group on the third floor. . square du Temple: Le Rétiaire. . square Paul-Painlevé (today square Samuel-Paty), marble group Les Gladiateurs (1883-1888), installed in 1900 then broken during its movement in 1909, the pieces are stored at the city of Paris warehouse. Sarlat, place de la Rigaudie: Monument to Étienne de La Boétie, 1892, marble. Senlis, Senlis museum: Thomas Couture, plaster bust commissioned by Ferdinand Barbedienne for the creation of the bronze. Versailles : . Museum of the History of France: Thomas Couture, 1885, bust commissioned by the Directorate of Fine Arts in 1882. This is the resumption of the bronze bust for the tomb of Thomas Couture in the Père-Lachaise cemetery made in 1878 on a monument of Louis-Ernest Barrias . Place Jean Houdon: Monument to Jean-Antoine Houdon. The sculptor is shown standing while he is sculpting one of his most famous works: the seated Voltaire (1780). In this block of stone that he cuts, we can see Voltaire's still unfinished head emerging. In Vietnam Saigon (current Ho Chi Minh City): Monument to Francis Garnier, 1885. A replica of this work, inaugurated on January 12, 1902, was in Saint-Étienne, his hometown. The bronze statue was quickly nicknamed “the monkey” because it had one arm much longer than the other: it was melted down during the occupation.
  • Creator:
    Edme Anthony Paul Noel (Sculptor)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 21.86 in (55.5 cm)Width: 19.53 in (49.6 cm)Depth: 10.63 in (27 cm)
  • Style:
    Napoleon III (Of the Period)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    Late 19th century
  • Condition:
  • Seller Location:
    Saint-Amans-des-Cots, FR
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU2312337685392
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