Pair Of Torches F. Barbedienne, C. Sevin, D. Attarge 1876

Pair of gilt bronze torches, one being signed under the feet of the three great masters of bronze from the 19th century, the other being signed on the edge of the F.Barbedienne terrace (for Ferndinand Barbedienne). Pieces of exceptional quality of work and in very good condition. At the bottom of each binet a small peak allows the candle to be planted. Torches designed by Louis-Constant Sévin in the neo-classical style, a Marie-Antoinette style so dear to the Empress Eugenie. The signature "CSévin in 1876" (Constant Sévin inventor of the model in 1876) is rare. Pieces chiseled by Désiré Attarge and melted by Ferdinand Barbedienne. The model of these torches was presented at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1878 on the stand of Ferdinand Barbedienne. A copy is kept at the Musée d'Orsay (Inv. OAO 1687) and at the Musée du Second Empire at the Palais de Compiègne. Born in 1810, died in Paris in 1892, Ferdinand Barbedienne created and directed one of the most important art foundries of the 19th century. He worked for the most renowned sculptors like Barrias, Clesinger or Carrier-Belleuse. Already acclaimed by two large medals at the London Exhibition in 1851, the Maison Barbedienne won at the Universal Exhibition of 1855 in Paris, a great medal of honor and eleven medals from cooperators rewarding its designers such as Louis-Constant Sévin (1821 -1888), his carvers like Désiré Attarge (1820-1878). He also won the Crozatier Prize in 1862, a prize intended to reward the best chaser in France, which was again awarded to him in 1864. Désiré Attarge was again rewarded in 1867 at the Universal Exhibition with a medal as collaborator of Ferdinand Barbedienne. The praise of the jury is then explicit, "It is impossible to show more taste in the composition and more mastery in the execution of its leaves or flowers, elegant, repelled on the piece with very great relief, and chiseled with extreme delicacy ”.