Beginning in the Sixteenth Century, a tradition of bronze sculpture developed in France that was influenced by achievements of the Italian Renaissance, while manifesting its own distinct refinement and force.
Even though French bronzes were among the glories of royal châteaux, including Versailles, and were collected eagerly by connoisseurs, they have received relatively little scrutiny from scholars. “Cast in Bronze: French Sculpture from Renaissance to Revolution,” on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art through May 24, brings together a large number of spectacular bronzes and is the first exhibition to address this subject in 40 years.
Approximately 125 of the finest statuettes, portrait busts and monuments reveal the French genius for bronze from the late Renaissance through the times of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI. Jean Goujon, Germain Pilon, Barthélemy Prieur, Pierre I. Biard, Michel Anguier, François Girardon, Antoine Coysevox, Jean-Baptiste Pigalle and Jean-Antoine Houdon are among the masters featured in the exhibition.
The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musée du Louvre, Paris, and the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
Evolving from a decadelong collaborative study by curators and other scholars, “Cast in Bronze” is the first exhibition in a museum to display this rich array of achievements spanning the Renaissance to the Age of Enlightenment. It features works from spectacular collections, including the Musée du Louvre; the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle; the museums of Dresden; and many provincial museums of France. Many of the works in the exhibition have rarely been seen in the United States.
The exhibition is divided into periods in which French accomplishments in modeling, casting and chasing bronze sculpture, from monuments to statuettes, were most prominent. Mannerist style, inaugurated in the reign of François I, was carried to triumphant heights under Henry II. The reign of Henri IV witnessed the formation of a robust baroque style that crystallized during the rule of Louis XIV, the Sun King, whose rule is gloriously reflected in a series of masterpieces.
In the Eighteenth Century, a new and highly attractive rationalism developed during the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI. Many bronzes made for the French crown were melted down during political upheavals, but canonical works of the Renaissance and later periods survive intact, or in fascinating fragments.
The vast expertise and range of experimentation in composition, workmanship and detail that sculptors brought to their metal masterworks are on display.
Highlights of the exhibition include Germain Pilon’s relief, “the Lamentation over the Dead Christ,” Pierre I. Biard’s “Fame,” Jean Goujon’s “Tomb Effigy of André Blondel de Rocquencourt” and Jean-Antoine Houdon’s “Diana,” all from the Musée du Louvre; Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne’s “Louis XV Standing on a Shield Borne by Soldiers,” François Dumont’s “Prometheus” and Guillaume Coustou’s “Julius Caeser” from the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle; and François Lespingola’s “The Infant Hercules Strangling the Serpent” from the Museum Abegg-Stiftung, Switzerland.
Additionally, equestrian statues that were the glory of Louis XIV’s reign are on view.
At the Metropolitan Museum, the exhibition is organized by Ian Wardropper, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor chairman, and James David Draper, Henry R. Kravis curator, both of the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts.
Prior to its showing here, the exhibition was on view at the Musée du Louvre, Paris. Afterward, it will be on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, June 30⁓eptember 27.
The museum is at 1000 Fifth Avenue. For more information, www.metmuseum.org or 212-535-7710.
