After Etienne Maurice Falconet (1716-1791).
Pair of three lights candelabras.
Ormolu and patinated bronze, grey marble base.
Circa 1800-1830.
Height 65 cm Width 18 cm
This pair of candelabra is composed of two groups of two women, dressed in antique style and slightly naked. They are brandishing a sheaf of flowers, three flowers are forming the arm of light.
The model of these candelabra is based on two plaster casts by Etienne Maurice Falconet (1716-1791), known from a drawing by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin executed in the margin of a booklet of the Salon of 1761.
They are thus described in the Explanation of the Paintings, Sculptures and Engravings of Gentlemen of the Royal Academy (...) in the great Salon of the Louvre for the year 1761 (...): "Two groups of women in plaster are candelabras to be executed in silver. They are two feet six inches high each. »
They were intended to be cast in silver by François Thomas Germain. This project certainly never saw the light of day due to the bankruptcy of Germain's company, but the models were used by the bronze-smiths with variations, notably on the number of arms of light and the sheaf of flower that could also be held in a vase by the nymphs that supported it.
Our pair was finely executed in the 19th century according to this model.
Bibliography :
Drawing by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, plaster models exhibited at the Salon of 1761 by Etienne Flaconet. (H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al. "Vergoldete Bronzen", Munich, 1986, vol I, p. 254, fig 4.7.1.)
