The Wallace Collection has one of the most important collections of French eighteenth-century gilt bronze in the world.
The Wallace Collection has an internationally-renowned collection of French eighteenth-century art, but perhaps lesser known today is their stunning collection of gilt-bronze objects. Intended, when they were made, to fill a practical role as well as for display, the bronzes
d'ameublement include clocks, candelabra, wall-lights, firedogs, vases and mounted Sevres porcelain. Once an integral part of the decoration of Parisian homes, they proclaimed the wealth and good taste of patrons such as Marie Antoinette, the due d'Aumont and the comte d'Artois.
Lavishly illustrated with new photography, this volume serves both to introduce some of the masterpieces in the Wallace Collection and to ground them in the art-historical and social context in which they were made. Focusing on the last two decades before the French Revolution, the book celebrates the superb skills and talents of the artists who made these remarkable works and illustrates the way in which the passion for the Antique world came to dominate all aspects of artistic production in France.
French eighteenth-century gilt-bronze objects, known as bronzes d'ameublement, include clocks, fire dogs, mounted Sèvres porcelain, wall lights, candlesticks and candelabra, and epitomise the levels of luxury achieved in Parisian interiors. Highly expensive and expertly wrought, they illustrate the heights of skilled craftsmanship achieved by French bronze workers as well as showcasing the wealth and connoisseurship of their owners. The book draws on exceptionally fine pieces by leading makers from the Wallace Collection's renowned collection and assesses them both as works of art and as important elements within Parisian interiors of the day. In doing so it demonstrates how these works were directly linked to fashion and the neo-classical movement in art and were part of a unified aesthetic promoted by the greatest designers and commissioned by the most influential patrons. An extended introduction places gilt-bronzes in the context of French interior design and provides information about their manufacture. The book is lavishly illustrated throughout with new photographs of highlights from the Wallace Collection making it a true celebration of the bronze maker's art.
