Forum :
Une rare fonte Labrouë de la Danseuse au tambourin




  • Julie Nelson (Avondale, Alabama, U.S.A., 28/2/2015)
    A friend of mine owns a Pradier sculpture, but we know nothing about this particular piece. Here's a photo:


  • Can you tell us what you know? Any assistance is appreciated!
  • Douglas Siler (15/3/2015)
    Your friend’s sculpture is intitled Danseuse au tambourin and two slightly different versions of it are described in Claude Lapaire’s James Pradier et la sculpture française de la génération romantique. Catalogue raisonné, 2010, pp. 410-411. One holds the tambourine above her head, at a certain distance from her raised right arm. The other, like yours, holds it lower and closer to her arm. Until now, this second version was known only from a 19th-century photo of a plaster cast made by Pradier’s editor (mouleur) Salvatore Marchi. So yours is the first bronze exemplar of that version which has come to light. A plaster cast by Marchi of the other version is owned by Geneva's Musée d'art et d'histoire and at least three bronze exemplars of it are known, one of which was sold in Germany on 18 Sept. 2004 and again in Zurich on 21 June 2007. Can you tell me the exact height of your version and whether it bears a signature and/or a foundry mark?
  • Julie Nelson (15/2/2015)
    Thank you for the wonderful details regarding this sculpture. The sculpture is 18 inches (45.72 cm) high and has the signature « Pradier » on the right side of the base and « DE LA BROUE F ft » on the left side of the base. We look forward to hearing what you have to say.
  • Douglas Siler (31/5/2015)
    The inscription « DE LA BROUE » on your sculpture is the name of the bronze founder, E. de Labrouë. At least one of the bronze exemplars of the other version I mentioned above also bears his mark and all are about the same height as yours. Labrouë's dates are not known but he made fine castings of several works by Pradier in the years immediately following Pradier’s death in 1852. Shortly before, in 1851, he had joined forces with Eugène Vittoz to run the bronze company founded around 1815 by the latter’s father, Gaspard-Joseph Vittoz. Then around 1859 he disappears when the company is taken over by F. Gautier, who in turn is replaced in 1862 by Gustave Isaac Lévy. The latter continued until 1881, followed briefly by Émile Vié and then, in 1882, by Émile Colin who headed the company until 1906-1907. Other directors followed into the late 1950’s, when the business finally closed. For more details, go to the thread Enquête sur un inventaire de la fonderie Colin.

    In short, the « DE LA BROUE » mark on your version of the Danseuse au tambourin and on the other version indicates that both were probably casted during the short period in the 1850’s when E. de Labrouë was active. It is similar to two other bronze works by Pradier, Négresse au tambourin and Négresse aux calebasses (Claude Lapaire, pp. 284-286), though no castings of them by Labrouë have been catalogued.


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