‘Aux Pages’ – A Fine Pair of Large Cast Iron Figural Torchères After Mathurin Moreau, Cast by Fonderies D’art Du Val D’Osne. Each figure cast as a young page modelled in the troubadour style, with 16th century costume and holding a spear.
Each with foundry lozenge for ‘Fonderies D’art Du Val D’Osne’.
Illustrated – Val d’Osne Catalogue Nº2 1900 Fontes d’art, Pl. 372 -Nº172; Pl. 595- Nº257 & 258.
France, Circa 1885.
This impressive pair of torchères cast by Val d’Osne, were executed according to the drawings of the important sculptor and shareholder in the foundry, Mathurin Moreau. Moreau’s drawings appear to have been first published in 1872 and 1874 appear in the foundry’s catalogue no. 2 ‘art fonts’ published in 1900.
As an emblem of Val d’Osne, the figures of the two Pages could be found at the entrance of the foundry. The most famous examples today are those at Villa des Pages in Vésinet. Built in 1890, as a retreat and sanatorium, visitors have been welcomed for over 100 years by the two pages on the steps of of the villa.
Further examples can be found in public and private collections across the world including South America, indicating the importance of that market for val d’Osne in the last quarter of the 19th century. A pair can be found at the entrance of a private residence in Santa Teresa, Rio de Janeiro. In São Paulo a single example of Nº258, originally at the Ilha dos Amores and transferred to Largo do Arouche in 1914, can now be viewed at the Centro de Estudos Jurídicos da Prefeitura.
Val d’Osne, S.A. des Hauts-fourneaux et fonderies du Val d’Osne – Album n° 2 – Fontes d’art Année, 1900.
Robert’s Album-Guide, The Illustrated Vésinet and its Surroundings, 1904.
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By appointment only.
