French Bronze Sculpture

This volume explores the production of French bronze sculptures and objects from the 16th to 18th centuries, highlighting bronze casting as a collaborative, technically complex, and inherently reproductive process. Focusing on specific sculptors, founders, and artworks, the papers draw on archival sources, foundry archaeology, close object study, and elemental analysis. Together, they reveal insights into materials, methods, and workshop practices, demonstrating how technical research enhances connoisseurship, attribution, and understanding of casting relationships.

The papers in this volume shed light on the production of important French bronze sculptures, as well as decorative and utilitarian objects, dating between the 16th and 18th century. Those who study such works must take into account that the making of a bronze is an inherently reproductive process as well as a complex, collaborative endeavour. The studies presented in this book mostly relate to the production of specific sculptors and founders, or of specific works of art. They draw on a range of evidence – written sources, archaeological investigations of foundry sites, close scrutiny of the objects themselves and elemental analysis of metals reveal much about the business of bronze working and technological know-how, and provide a further wealth of evidence about process, as well as increasingly useful information for attribution and dating. As the papers illustrate, integrating these technical approaches with connoisseurship is the key to understanding and characterizing the fabrication processes of particular works, and to correctly identifying the relationship between different casts based on the same model.

Part 1: From Primaticcio to Houdon

I.1 Francesco Bordoni : specificites techniques chez un sculpteur-fondeur du 17e siecle D. Bourgarit , G. Bresc, F. Bewer

I.2 Barthelemy Prieur fondeur, son atelier, ses methodes de travail R. Seelig, F. Bewer, D. Bourgarit

I.3 De Dame Tholose au Mercure volant: fondre en Languedoc aux 16e et 17e siecles P. Julien, A. de Beauregard

I.4 Casts after the antique by Hubert Le Sueur J. Griswold, C. Hess, J. Bassett, G. Bresc, M. Bouchard, R. Harris

I.5 Keller et les autres : les fondeurs des jardins de Versailles ou les cent-un bronzes de Louis XIV A. Maral, A. Amarger, D. Bourgarit

I.6 Keller and his alloy: copper, some zinc and a little bit of tin J.-M. Welter

I.7 Jean-Antoine Houdon: sculptor and founder J. Bassett, G. Scherf

Part 2: Small castings and multiples

II.1 The Dresden bronze of the Bath of Apollo: a model, not a copy F. Moureyre, U. Peltz

II.2 Les bronzes decoratifs AParis autour de 1700. A propos des groupes de Francois Lespingola Ph. Malgouyres

II.3 Bronzes Dores: A technical approach to examination and authentication A. Heginbotham

II.4 A Prussian manufactory of gilt bronzes Ala francaise: Johann Melchior Kambly (1718-84) and the adoption of Parisian savoir-faire T. Locker

II.5 Les mortiers, objets meconnus des bronziers francais B. Bergbauer

Part 3: Casting techniques: transmission and evolution

III.1 Casting Sculpture and Cannons in Bronze: Jehan Barbet's Angel of 1475 in The Frick Collection J. Day, D. Allen

III.2 The cut-back core process in late 17th and 18th century French bronzes J. Bassett, F. Bewer

III.3 Temoins archeologiques d'un atelier de bronzier travaillant ASaint-Denis Ala fin du 16e siecle O. Meyer, N. Thomas, M. Wyss

III.4 The Foundry at the Hippodrome. A French foundry for monumental sculpture in Stockholm around 1700 L. Hinners

III.5 Boffrand's and Mariette's Descriptions of the casting of Louis XIV and Louis XV on Horseback A.-L. Desmas

III.6 Cire perdue moule carapace : Atravers les recherches et les realisations de la fonderie de Coubertin J. Dubos,

Contents

Part 1: From Primaticcio to Houdon

I.1 Francesco Bordoni : spécificités techniques chez un sculpteur-fondeur du 17e siècle D. Bourgarit , G. Bresc, F. Bewer

I.2 Barthélemy Prieur fondeur, son atelier, ses méthodes de travail R. Seelig, F. Bewer, D. Bourgarit

I.3 De Dame Tholose au Mercure volant: fondre en Languedoc aux 16e et 17e siècles P. Julien, A. de Beauregard

I.4 Casts after the antique by Hubert Le Sueur J. Griswold, C. Hess, J. Bassett, G. Bresc, M. Bouchard, R. Harris

I.5 Keller et les autres : les fondeurs des jardins de Versailles ou les cent-un bronzes de Louis XIV A. Maral, A. Amarger, D. Bourgarit

I.6 Keller and his alloy: copper, some zinc and a little bit of tin J.-M. Welter

I.7 Jean-Antoine Houdon: sculptor and founder J. Bassett, G. Scherf

Part 2: Small castings and multiples

II.1 The Dresden bronze of the Bath of Apollo: a model, not a copy F. Moureyre, U. Peltz

II.2 Les bronzes décoratifs à Paris autour de 1700. A propos des groupes de François Lespingola Ph. Malgouyres

II.3 Bronzes Dorés: A technical approach to examination and authentication A. Heginbotham

II.4 A Prussian manufactory of gilt bronzes à la française: Johann Melchior Kambly (1718-84) and the adoption of Parisian savoir-faire T. Locker

II.5 Les mortiers, objets méconnus des bronziers français B. Bergbauer

Part 3: Casting techniques: transmission and evolution

III.1 Casting Sculpture and Cannons in Bronze: Jehan Barbet’s Angel of 1475 in The Frick Collection J. Day, D. Allen

III.2 The cut-back core process in late 17th and 18th century French bronzes J. Bassett, F. Bewer

III.3 Témoins archéologiques d’un atelier de bronzier travaillant à Saint-Denis à la fin du 16e siècle O. Meyer, N. Thomas, M. Wyss

III.4 The Foundry at the Hippodrome. A French foundry for monumental sculpture in Stockholm around 1700 L. Hinners

III.5 Boffrand’s and Mariette’s Descriptions of the casting of Louis XIV and Louis XV on Horseback A.-L. Desmas

III.6 Cire perdue moule carapace : à travers les recherches et les réalisations de la fonderie de Coubertin J. Dubos

• Edited by David Bourgarit
• Edited by Jane Bassett
• Edited by Francesca Bewer
• Edited by Geneviève Bresc-Bautier
• Edited by Philippe Malgouyres
• Edited by Guilhem Scherf

"The book is well illustrated with extremely clear and informative photographs and diagrams. [It] gives a comprehensive background to the commissioning and casting of bronze statues with extensive analysis of the different bronzes being used, which can help to establish the foundry and date of production as well as authenticity. The close inspection of the pieces also gives a vivid insight into the production methods showing infills, repairs, building and finishing techniques." ICON News - September 2014 "This bi-lingual volume of 18 papers by curators, art historians, scientists and conservators is the tangible result of an international symposium organised by the Musee du Louvre and the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musees de France ("C2RMF") in June 2012. The organisers and authors are to be congratulated on its rapid publication, and the publishers on a well-illustrated and dynamically designed art book. [...] The volume is a mine of new and fascinating information." The Art Newspaper - No. 261, October 2014
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The book is well illustrated with extremely clear and informative photographs and diagrams. [It] gives a comprehensive background to the commissioning and casting of bronze statues with extensive analysis of the different bronzes being used, which can help to establish the foundry and date of production as well as authenticity. The close inspection of the pieces also gives a vivid insight into the production methods showing infills, repairs, building and finishing techniques.

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This bi-lingual volume of 18 papers by curators, art historians, scientists and conservators is the tangible result of an international symposium organised by the Musée du Louvre and the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France ("C2RMF") in June 2012. The organisers and authors are to be congratulated on its rapid publication, and the publishers on a well-illustrated and dynamically designed art book. [...] The volume is a mine of new and fascinating information.

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