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Title:
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Napoleon I on Horseback
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Artist: |
Baron Carlo Marochetti
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This is one cast from an edition produced by Louis-Auguste Asse from a model by Marochetti. The work was commissioned by this editor of bronzes, in 1839, backed by a subscription, for which a list of subscribers has survived. The contributors, from France, Germany, England and Italy, included a significant number of eminent persons. Adolphe Thiers and the Minister of the Interior, Duchâtel, both subscribed for plaster versions. Amongst the thirteen subscribers who ordered the bronze was Carlo Alberto of Savoy.
The historian Marcel Vicaire has emphasized the significance of the appearance of this statuette immediately preceding the return of Napoleon's remains from Saint Helena. When the project for the return was first mooted, an equestrian statue of the Emperor in a public place had been proposed, as well as a tomb. In the event, the statue project went temporarily into abeyance. The project for the tomb took centre stage, with Marochetti being commissioned to produce a design, and, following disatisfaction with both his projects, a public competition being held. It was only when the architect Visconti had received the commission for the tomb, that it was again proposed that there should also be an equestrian statue of the Emperor. It was to be on the Esplanade of the Invalides, and it was to Marochetti that the commission was given. Vicaire surmised that the first design which Marochetti conceived for his equestrrian figure, in military costume, might well have been a monumental version of this statuette. (M. Vicaire, "Les projets de Marochetti pour le tombeau de l'Empereur Napoléon", Bulletin de la Société de l'histoire de l'art français, (1974), 1975: pp.145-52.
Another bronze cast of this statuette (h.46cm, signed C. MAROCHETTI, and with the mark ASSE EDITEUR) was sold on 22 March 2015 by the auctioneers Pousse Cornet - Valoir at Blois.
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Signature: |
C.Marochetti 1840 |
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Material(s): |
Bronze
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Medium: |
Unassigned |
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Finish: |
- |
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Technique: |
Cast |
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Genre: |
Unassigned
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Location: |
Armeria Reale, Turin, Turin, Turin, Italy
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Colours: |
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Year: |
1840 |
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Height: |
0.43 metres |
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Width: |
0.43 metres |
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Depth: |
0 metres |
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Key: |
2020 |
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Acc. No.: |
2020 |
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Col. No.: |
2020 |
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Number of views: |
4529 |
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