"French Republic Jacques France 1882"
Bust of Marianne in bronze with a nuanced brown patina, slightly lighter on the skin.It bears the characteristic signature of Jacques France under the right shoulder.
This rare model depicts Marianne wearing the Phrygian cap with her sash adorned with the three French revolutions "1789", "1848" and "1870".
Height 30 cm, width 19 cm, depth 13 cm.
Epoca 1882
Very good condition.
Jacques France (1826-1894)
French sculptor freemason, made this Marianne in two models, the first, masonic, was conceived in January 1881 at the request of the Master of the lodge "La Bonne Foi" in Saint Germain en Laye for a Republic Day on February 24 1881.
The model presented is the Republic wearing the Phrygian cap with a Masonic Master's sash decorated with the symbols compass-square, level, ruler, lever, trowel and mallet. Its success was immediate and adopted by the Grand Orient de France as an official model for its lodges. A well-known copy still hangs in the office of Great Master of Grand Orient of French in Paris.
In 1882, a more secular version, without the Masonic attributes but still with the sash, was proposed to the Committee of Busts of the Republic, chaired by Victor Hugo, which retained it as the official Marianne of the Republic for French town halls and public institutions.
Cf. "les Fées de la République" p. 172. "Je vous salue Marianne" pierre Bonte, page 65.
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