Tag: cast bronze

Christophe Charbonnel

Sculptures of Christophe Charbonnel

The sculptor Christophe Charbonnel was born in Nantes, France.  In 2002, he decided to make a living from sculpture and quit his cartoonist job at the Walt Disney studios in Montreuil. Moving with his family to the Yvelines. Charbonnel dedicated himself full time to his sculpture. Quickly, he became aware that he belonged to a lineage of sculptors whose technique, which he learned in 1995  in Philippe Seené’s studio at the Duperré school, consists of working with profiles.

Sir Frederic Leighton

Sir Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron PRA, “The Athlete Wrestling a Python”, Bronze, 1877

Frederic Leighton was an English painter and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subject matter. Leighton was bearer of the shortest-lived peerage in history.  Leighton was the first painter to be given a peerage, in the New Year Honours List of 1896. The patent creating him Baron Leighton, of Stretton in the County of Shropshire, was issued on 24 January 1896; Leighton died the next day of angina pectoris.

Leighton received his artistic training on the European continent, first from Eduard von Steinle and then from Giovanni Costa. At age 17 in the summer of 1847, he met the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in Frankfurt and painted his portrait, in graphite and gouache on paper—the only known full-length study of Schopenhauer done from life. In Florence at the age of twenty-four, Leighton studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti and painted his 1853-1855 “Cimabue’s Madonna Carried in Procession”, a large-scaled work which originally hung in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace in 1862. From 1855 to 1859, Leighton lived in Paris, where he met Ingres, Delacroix, Corot and Millet.

The supposition that Frederic Leighton may have been homosexual continues to be debated today. He certainly enjoyed an intense and romantically tinged relationship with the poet Henry William Greville whom he met in Florence in 1856. The older man showered Leighton with letters, but the romantic affection seems not to have been reciprocated. Enquiry is furthermore hindered by the fact that Leighton left no diaries and his letters are telling in their lack of reference to his personal circumstances. No definite primary evidence has yet come to light that effectively dispels the secrecy that Leighton built up around himself, although it is clear that he did court a circle of younger men around his artistic studio.

Bartolomeo Ammanati

Bartolomeo Ammanati, Statue of Faunus, Fountain of Neptune, Florence, Italy

Born in the city of Settignano in June of 1511, Bartolomeo Ammanati was an Italian sculptor and architect. Of his many works, the best known is the Fountain of Neptune located in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence. 

Though private commissions took place in Florence during the early 1500s , public works were not often produced. Commissioning sculptures for exterior, public areas was a tactic the Republic used in order to portray Florence as a reincarnation of Rome, which had a grand tradition of sculptural works for prominent public spaces. By establishing Rome as a predecessor of Florence, the city was seen as a prestigious, conquering city-state, equal to Rome’s glory and  capable of expanding its reach.

The marble and bronze Fountain of Neptune was commissioned by Florence in 1565 with the initial design work by sculptor and draftsman Baccio Bandinelli. He chose the large block of marble which was to be the central figure; however, he died in 1560 before the work stated. From 1563 to 1565 Bartolomeo Ammanati and his assistants sculpted the block, using Grand Duke Cosimo I as model for Neptune’s face. This statue was meant to highlight the Grand Duke’s goal of establishing a Florentine Naval force.

The majority of the design and sculpture was executed by Ammanati. He continued work on the fountain for a decade and added around its perimeter a collection of demigod figures which contained bronze, reclining river gods, fauns and satyrs, and marble sea horses emerging from the water. All these figures were modeled and cast under Ammanati’s supervision by a team of assistants. The female nude statue personifying Ops, the Sabine fertility deity, as well as the general design and character of the lesser gods are examples of the mature style he developed over the years.

One of the Fountain of Neptune’s bronze satyrs is Faunus, who, in the ancient Roman pantheon, was the horned god of the forest, plains, and fields. He eventually became equated with the Greek god Pan, and was also known among herdsmen as Inuus, the god who embodied sexual intercourse. One of the oldest Roman gods, Faunus revealed the future in dreams and voices to those who slept, while lying on the fleeces of sacrificial lambs,  in his precincts.

Martin Van den Bogaert

 

Martin Van den Bogaert, “Captive Representing Spain”, 1682, Bronze, Louvre Museum

Originally placed around the pedestal of the pedestrian statue of Louis XIV of the Place des Victoires, the captives represent the nations defeated at the Peace of Nimègue in 1678. The” Captive representing Spain” has his eyes raised to heaven expressing hope. The models of the captive nations were cast in bronze in 1682. The bronze trophies were added to the pedestrian statue after the contract of March 9, 1685.

Pierre-Victor Ledure

 

Pierre-Victor Ledure, Mantle Clock with the Figure of Perseus, Early 19th Century Gilt Bronze

Born in Paris in 1783, Pierre-Victor Ledure became an apprentice of the famous bronzier André-Antoine Ravrio, who became one of his best friends. Ledure came to be one of the leading bronziers in the early 19th century, with an extensive and influential clientèle. Several important collections contain his work, like the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.