A Gilt and Pewter Patinated Bronze Sculptural Jardiniere, Entitled ‘The Bell Founders Of The Middle Ages’, Cast By The Siot Decauville Foundry, Paris, From The Model By Louis Albert-Lefeuvre (French, 1845-1924).
Two foundry men carrying an upturned bell cast with figures between bands of laurel leaves, stars, oak leaves and fleurs-de-lys.
Signed ‘ALBERT-LEFEUVRE, SIOT FONDEUR. PARIS’. Numbered ‘L409’.
France, Circa 1900.
The model is recorded to have been exhibited at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. An example is illustrated in P. Dahhan, Etains 1900, 200 sculptures de la Belle Epoque, Paris, 2000, p. 22. Another is in the collection of the Ackland Memorial Art Center, North Carolina (Catalogue of the Collection, William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1971, No. 123, p. 186).
Louis Albert-Lefeuvre (1845 – 1924) was a student of Auguste Dumont and Alexandre Falguière at the École des beaux-arts in Paris. He debuted at the Salon of 1875 where he regularly exhibited thereafter until the early 1900s. Like his contemporaries Aimé-Jules Dalou and Auguste Rodin, Lefeuvre’s choice of subject often elevate the everyday heroism of farmers and labourers.
Public commissions include his ‘Monument to Joseph Bara’ (1881) in Palaiseau, and his work is preserved in museum collections including ‘Fin de journée’ (1907) at the musée d’Orsay, which is made in Sèvres biscuit porcelain after his plaster group ‘Le Travail’ (1885). Bronze editions of Lefeuvre’s work, such as ‘La Repos’ and ‘Buste de Marivaux’ were edited by the art foundries Siot-Decauville and Barbedienne.
Lefeuvre’s style has a distinct Art Nouveau flavour but is at its best in the heroic masculinity of his most famous work ‘Les Fondeurs du Moyen-Âge’ which was shown at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle.
By appointment only.
