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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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RICHARD REDDING ANTIQUES |
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THE MERCURY AND IRIS CANDELABRA A very rare pair of Empire gilt and patinated bronze and Siena marble figural five-light candelabra by Claude Galle or his son Gérard Galle, each with a central torch-shaped light issuing from a circular shaft from which issue four scrolled tapering circular and foliate wrapped branches each with circular sockets and drip pans, each held aloft by the respective figures of Mercury and Iris. The figure of Mercury inspired after the original Renaissance model by Giovanni Bologna with winged ankles, wearing a petasus or winged hat and holding his distinctive caduceus or magic wand in his left hand, standing balanced with his left foot on an upturned putto head representing the wind and looking up to the branched light held aloft in his right hand The figure of the female winged Iris inspired after a model by Canova, with scant diaphanous drapery, balanced with her right foot upon an celestial globe holding a wreath of irises in her right hand and looking up toward the branched light held aloft in her left hand, each on a circular Siena marble plinth ornamented with alternate winged putto torsos and flaming torches on a square Siena marble base Paris, date circa 1812-20 Height 105 cm. each. Literature: Charles Avery, “Florentine Renaissance Sculpture”, 1970, p. 240, pl. 176, illustrating Giovanni Bologna’s Mercury of circa 1580, now in the Bargello, Florence. “The Treasure Houses of Britain”, Washington National Gallery of Art Exhibition Catalogue, edited by Gervase Jackson-Stops, 1985, p. 359, no. 286, illustrating Giacomo Zoffoli’s identical bronze figure of Mercury after Giovanni Bologna, circa 1769. The reappearance of these rare and magnificent candelabra is an exciting discovery, their identity and authenticity has recently been confirmed by Jean Dominique Augarde of Paris. The pair were either made by the celebrated Empire bronzier, Claude Galle (1759-1815) or by his eldest son Gérard Galle (1788-1846), who worked with his father and took over the family business at rue Vivienne on the latter’s death. Gérard, whose business was regarded as one of the best in Paris and frequented by the richest clientele, soon proved that he could maintain his father’s excellent reputation. A pair of candelabra with figures of Mercury and Iris was recorded in the inventory of Galle’s stock made in 1812, priced at 60 francs. There is also a record of another pair with the same figures, cast in 1815 estimated at 50 francs. Furthermore the inventory made after Claude’s death in 1815 listed a pair of bronze candelabra with Mercury and Iris both carrying a three-branch light, each on green marble socles, Ntée 9285 priced at 550 francs. At the Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie, 1819 Gérard Galle exhibited a pair of candelabra with identical figures carrying a seven-branched light. Their description in a memoir of the Garde Meuble de la Couronne directly corresponds with the present figures noted as measuring 41 pouces and estimated at 1600 francs. Other identical models by Galle can be found at the Musée Marmottan-Claude Monet in Paris and in the apartments of the royal palace in Madrid at the Patrimonio Nacional. According to mythology, Iris and Mercury were both messengers of the gods and thus although appropriate partners the combination of the two only appeared in art during the Empire and subsequent Restauration period. Therefore the rare combination of the two mythological figures significantly adds to their historical importance. The renowned bronzier, Pierre-François Feuchère, (1737-1823) was another to be similarly inspired by the two figures since a record of his collection, 1824 lists a pair of bronze figures of Mercury and Iris on griotte d’Italie socles. Mercury, one of the 12 Olympian gods was the son and messenger of Jupiter. He was charged with leading the three goddesses Juno, Venus and Minerva to be judged by Paris. As a guide he escorted Psyche to heaven for her marriage with Cupid and also bore Pandora to earth. Mercury also guided the souls of the dead down to Charon the ferryman and led Proserpine back from the underworld. As a patron of travellers his image as a herm was erected by the roadside to mark distances or boundaries. While Mercury was frequently represented in art, Iris’s appearance was much rarer. She was the goddess who personified the rainbow, on which she descended to earth as a messenger of the gods, especially Juno who sent her and others to end Dido’s torment. Iris intervened in The Iliad by rescuing Venus from battle after Diomedes had wounded her. Iris is identified by her wings and her rainbow like nimbus, and like Mercury she may also be seen carrying a caduceus as well as a pitcher. The classical pose of the figure of Iris was inspired by the work of the greatest Neo-classical sculptor, Antonio Canova (1757-1822). The model for the figure of Mercury is a reduced version of the famous bronze statue of the mythological messenger of the gods, made by the great Renaissance sculptor, Giovanni Bologna (1529-1608), which he sent to Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici for the Villa Medici in Rome, 1580. For the next 200 years the statue ornamented a fountain at the Villa Medici, then in 1780 the Grand-Duke Pietro Leopoldo moved it to Florence, where it can now be seen at the Bargello. Giovanni Bologna’s Mercury became one of the most celebrated ‘modern’ (as opposed to ‘classical antique’) statues of all time and was subsequently reproduced by a number of later artists and cast by both F. Righetti and G. Zoffoli during the eighteenth century. Zoffoli of Rome achieved notable success for its numerous but now rare reproductions of the model, of which one example, now at Aske Hall, England was acquired by the Marquess of Zetland and can be seen in the background of the Marquess’s portrait by Johann Zoffany, 1769. Other versions after Giovanni Bologna’s Mercury can be found at the Royal Palace Stockholm, Schloss Wörlitz, Dessau and at Woburn Abbey. http://www.richardreddingantiques.com/collection/gilt-bronze/the-mercury-and-iris-candelabra |
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