Arc de Triomphe, Vendome Column & July Column Set

french, ca. 1850
patinated bronze / black slate
10″ (Arc), 18″ (Vendome) and 19″ (July) high

 

While Parisian and other 19th century makers of souvenir architectural models often produced sets of objects – the Lateran and Flaminian Obelisks were a favorite pair of mid-19th century Roman mementos, for example –  and there is evidence tourists purchased these groups, in the intervening 150 years sets of models, like sets of everything else, have very often been dispersed. Nowadays, the objects we come across are almost always on their own.

Imagine our surprise, then, at coming upon this handsome mid-19th century, Parisian, dark-patinated bronze set of larger models of the Arc de Triomphe, and Colonnes Vendome and de Juillet – something we’d not before seen.  A further surprise lay (and continues to lie) in the identity of the firm who made these replicas. Though they resemble the production of the Parisian Le Blanc Freres, the patination of these figures is darker, and they are unmarked. Le Blanc often marked its castings multiple times.

Because the Colonne Vendome model is surmounted by the tricorne hatted figure of Napoleon, right hand tucked inside his great coat, Le Petit Corporal, by sculptor Charles-Emile Seurre (1798 – 1858), we know the set must date from the period between when that statue was put in place – 1833 – and when it was removed – 1867, in favor of the current statue portraying Napoleon in the toga of a Roman emperor.

Right:  Side view of the Arc de Triomphe.

Left:  The triumvirate of French Classical monuments, gathered into a handsome set. The designs of each are based on antique Roman sources. The Arc de Triomphe refers to the Arch of Titus, the Vendome Column is very literally a recreation of Trajan’s Column, and the July Column a giant Corinthian column on a base similar to Trajan’s Column.