Enfilade

Published by Archetype and available from ACC Distribution:

David Bourgarit, Jane Bassett, Francesca Bewer, Geneviève Bresc-Bautier, Philippe Malgouyres, and Guilhem Scherf, eds., French Bronze Sculpture: Materials and Techniques, 16th–18th Century (London: Archetype Publications, 2014), 256 pages, ISBN: 978-1909492042, £65 / $140.

The papers in this volume examine the origins and cross-fertilization of ideas and technology related to the making of bronzes in France between the Renaissance and the 18th century from the perspectives chronology, geography and typology. The production of specific sculptors and founders, or of specific works of art are considered in terms of the technology, the documentation of both the processes and the persons involved e.g. sculptors, founders, merchants, etc. and how these may have impacted the stylistic and technical outcome.

C O N T E N T S

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