Neo-gothic Chandelier, France, Circa 1870

Beautiful neo-gothic chandelier with six lights, in patinated bronze with gilded highlights. The hexagonal architectural shaft is pierced with quadrilobed crosspieces, inspired by the decorative repertoire of Gothic art, and ends with foliage scrolls.
The six light-arms are attached to the leafy crown. The whole is suspended from the ceiling light by three openwork chains.

The very architectural and precise design of this chandelier evokes the creations of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879), who was not only a renowned theorician, but above all an accomplished architect, whose genius lay in his acute observation of medieval buildings in view of their restoration, as well as the continuation of the Gothic style in architecture and decorative arts.

The Gothic style was brought back into fashion by the architect Jacques Hittorf (1792-1867) with the decorations made for the coronation of Charles X in 1824. It had a great success among the public with the success of literary works such as “Notre-Dame de Paris” by Victor Hugo in 1831 or the play by Alexandre Dumas, « La Tour de Nesle » in 1832. The furniture also followed the trend, as the neo-gothic salon of the princesse Marie d’Orléans in the Tuileries castle, or the neo-Gothic cabinet of the Count and Countess of Osmond in their Parisian hotel.