Antonin Moine (1796-1849) Attributed To Pair Of Bronze Statues Charles X Period

Elegant pair of Renaissance style sculptures in finely chiseled bronze, work from the Charles Châtelaine au Faucon" and "Le Sonneur d'Olifant" they are dressed in the romantic style of the troubadours, the woman as a lady and the man as a knight. They rest on precious Boulle marquetry bases with gilded brass and red tortoiseshell inlays (some lifting and missing) enhanced by neoclassical gilded bronzes. Dimensions: 34 cm high x 15 cm wide. Bibliography: Antonin Moine (1796-1849), a forgotten romantic: Jean-Baptiste Galley, Ménard, Saint-Etienne (1898), reprint by Nabu Press / Antonin Moine (1796-1849), Romantic sculptor: Jean-Loup Champion, Bulletin of the Society for the History of French Art, pp. 251–274 (1997) -The Olifant Ringer (Saint-Étienne Museum around 1833) -Woman with a Falcon (Château de Blois, around 1840) Antoine Marie Moine, known as Antonin Moine, born in Saint-Etienne, is the son of 'André Moine, ribbon merchant and Marie Lardon. In 1817, he was admitted to the Ecole des Beaux-arts in Paris to study painting. He was a student of Anne-Louis Girodet (1767-1824) and Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835). Antonin Moine painted landscapes and mythological subjects, but he gained notoriety with romantic sculptures that he exhibited at the Salon of 1831. By his return to the Middle Ages or the Renaissance, opposing the neo-classical style, he is part of the romantic movement. Théophile Gautier was the first to recognize his talent: “The bold and happy modifications that Géricault and Delacroix made in painting, Moine introduced them into sculpture”. In 1837, thanks to a contract with the Susse Brothers, publishers of artistic bronze, he produced small pieces intended for bourgeois interiors. From 1835 to 1840, under the direction of the architect Jacques Hittorff (1792-1867), Antonin Moine participated with other sculptors in the Fontaine des Mers and the Fontaine des Fleuves, located on Place de la Concorde in Paris and for which he created several Néréides. After an absence at the Paris Salon from 1837 to 1842, he exhibited there again in 1843, presenting pastel portraits. He still carried out a few commissions including a full-length sculpture of Sully (1846) for the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1847.