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Title:
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Crowning feature for the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile
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Artist: |
Baron Carlo Marochetti
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On 27 June
1833, in response to a Projet de Loi put
forward by Adolphe Thiers, 17 million francs were voted by the Chamber of Deputies
for the completion of a number of Parisian monuments, including La Madeleine
and the Arc de Triomphe at the Étoile. The Arc de Triomphe had been designed and
built during the First Empire by the architect Chalgrin, but a new architect
had been put in charge of it in 1832. This was Guillaume-Abel Blouet, a
prix-de-Rome winner, who collaborated on a number of smaller projects during the
1830s with Marochetti. . For the Arc de Triomphe Marochetti received the important
commission to produce a relief of the Battle of Jemappes, but,
for a moment in 1834, it looked as though he might also land a commission for a
crowning feature for the arch.
There is a
very lively account in the newspaper Le Courrier (28 Sept. 1834), which
gives an idea of the somewhat autocratic manner in which Thiers went about commissioning
sculpture for the arch. At the start, we are told, he had seemed convinced that
nothing should be done to mitigate the severe outlines of the arch as Chalgrin
had conceived them, but it clearly looked as though the architect and some of
the sculptors "who were in the good books of the minister", persuaded
him to hold a competition behind closed doors for a crowning feature.
" Seven
or eight projects were presented by MM. Seurre, Lemaire, Rude, Marochetti etc..
Some confined themselves to representing chariots drawn by six or eight horses;
others produced figure groups of more or less complexity. Marochetti's project,
which seemed to appeal the most to the minister, though none satisfied him
completely, attracted attention by an exaggeration of pose and tastelessness of
style, which one believed had gone completely out of fashion. His sketch might
have been taken for an old sketch by Bernini in his worst phase. At the centre
a personification of France was perched on an enormous globe, representing the
sphere of the earth, and seemed to be conversing alternately with figures of
Peace and War below her, hand on hip and head thrown back" No decision was
taken by the small group who had been appointed to judge the competition, and the question was
adjourned.
The sculptor James Pradier also submitted a sketch model for the "couronnement". Pradier's entry was an apotheosis of Napoleon, showing him in Imperial costume, riding a colossal eagle, the whole group supported on a trophy of arms. The comments on the competition in Pradier's letters provide further insights into the commissioning policies of Thiers and into the rivalry between Pradier and Marochetti. Pradier's particular grudge against Marochetti was that he had used his influence over the painter François Gérard, persuading him to abstain from judging the competition entries. Normally the painter could have been relied on to give his support to Pradier, but in this case Pradier believed that the Italian born Marochetti and the painter, who was half Italian, were making common cause against him.
Pradier's most interesting comments concern the drift of Adolphe Thiers's commissioning policy in the early years of the July Monarchy. Marochetti was an example of the kind of sculptor, not necessarily a Rome Prize-winner, to whom in the early 1830s Thiers had given major state commissions. Pradier, who had much earlier won the Rome Prize, implies that Thiers was now beginning to regret this liberal approach and to be willing once again to trust to sculptors with better credentials:
"The Minister had then hoped that, in giving certain unknown artists the biggest tasks, it was only necessary to recommend that they should do better than had been done hitherto. He tried this tactic which now he has already come to regret, because he seems to want to return to those who through laborious study have obtained the sort of reputations which time respects and of which their work daily gives proof". (Douglas Siler, James Pradier. Correspondance, Vol.II, 1834-1842, Geneva, 1984, pp.21-27)
The assistant of Pradier's friend, the sculptor Chaponnière, wrote to his master, giving a short account of the whole affair:
"Several people having got wind of the fact that Pradier was making a sketch for the arch put forward their own projects. The minister saw them all, but not daring to take sides, said that he would consult Ingres and Gérard. Pradier thought that this would decide matters in his favour, but Marochetti, one of the competitors, having gone immediately to find Gérard, they came to such a good understanding in their typically Italian way, that Gérard promised to back out, which in fact he did by declining to accept the role of arbiter with which he had been charged. Who would have believed it; he, the master of Pradier! But the cunning fellow thought that Marochetti might prove more useful to him. It would appear that the minister confronted with this situation, was unable to make up his own mind. All this may well come to nothing." (cited in P. Chaponnière, John Etienne Chaponnière, sculpteur, Geneva, 1927, p.22)
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Material(s): |
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Medium: |
Unassigned |
Finish: |
- |
Technique: |
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Genre: |
Unassigned
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Colours: |
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Year: |
1834 |
Height: |
0 metres |
Width: |
0 metres |
Depth: |
0 metres |
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Key: |
2523 |
Acc. No.: |
2523 |
Col. No.: |
2523 |
Number of views: |
2730 |
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