Emperor Napoleon on Horseback, Cast by Susse Frères, Paris

A fine pair of gilt and patinated bronze seven-light candelabra, after a model by Clodion, Cast by Suse Frères. Stamped 'Susse Fres'. The candelabra are in the form of patinat...

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...

'The Soldier of Marathon' - A large patinated bronze group after a model by Jean-Pierre Cortot, Cast by Ferdinand Barbedienne. Jean-Pierre Cort...

'Le Puits Qui Parle' (The Speaking Well) - An Important Exhibition Bronze Group, by Paul Eugène Mengin. Signed to the cast 'P MENGIN', and inscri...

A fine Napoleon III gilt-bronze and porcelain mounted clock garniture, designed by Louis-Constant Sévin, cast by Ferdinand Barbedienne, The Movement by Japy Frères. Frédéric Japy ...

A Large Cast Iron Fountain Figure of a Water Nymph On a white marble pedestal, By J.-J. Ducel, Paris. Signed ' 'J.-J.DUCEL'. Modelled seated on a rock as if dipping a toe into th...

A French 19th Century Cornucopia Gilt-Bronze Cartel, by Susse Frères Paris An Ormolu Cartel in the shape of an escutcheon, with a circular white enamel dial, signed Susse Frères/A Paris, Arabic numerals for the hours and for the minutes. It's bordered by a frieze of pearls and surmounted by a falling laurel knot with a drapery in the lower part and flanked by cornucopias adorned with flowers and fruits. Rectangular base decorated with a garland of knotted flowers dying in a tapered, fluted barrel and damping, in the upper part, a flowery Medici vase. Louis XVI Style Circa 1870 Original gilding uncleaned The Susse company, a worldwide reknown foundry, began to cast pieces as soon as the first half of the 19th Century. Awarded medals...

Art Deco bronze sculpture of a panther by Maurice Prost. Signed M. Prost and Susse frères Editeurs Paris. Bronze with black patina on a Belgian Black Marble base. This bronze is...

French Art Deco ceramic sculpture with fishes, glazed, 1920 by Susse Freres. Unique handmade ceramic sculpture from Paris, France. The pictured fish and underwater landscape is elabo...

This bronze was produced by the firm of Susse Freres in France at the end of the 19th century during the "Grand Tour" of Europe. The piece has aged to a beautiful soft coloration. F...

Late 19th century french patinated bronze sculpture of violinist 'Sans Souci' with marble base by Léon Tharel for Susse Frères By: Léon Tharel, Susse Frères Material: bronze, metal, marble Technique: cast, patinated, hand-crafted, metalwork Dimensions: 6.5 in x 9 in x 9.5 in Date: late 19th century, circa 1890 Style: Belle Époque, Romanticism Place of origin: France Antique reclining...

This stunning silvered bronze model is the work of the French sculptor Paul Silvestre (1884-1976) for Susse Freres, the famous metalworking firm based in Paris in the late 19th and e...