{"id":99216,"date":"2022-10-04T11:16:02","date_gmt":"2022-10-04T09:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pipat-antiquites.fr\/?p=99216"},"modified":"2023-02-24T13:50:39","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T12:50:39","slug":"pair-of-andirons-decorated-with-vienna-bronzes-19th-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pipat-antiquites.fr\/en\/pair-of-andirons-decorated-with-vienna-bronzes-19th-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Pair of Andirons Decorated with Vienna Bronzes, 19th Century"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row unlock_row_content=”yes” row_height_percent=”0″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”2″ top_padding=”1″ bottom_padding=”5″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ column_width_percent=”100″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ row_height_use_pixel=””][vc_column column_width_use_pixel=”yes” gutter_size=”3″ font_family=”font-134980″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ zoom_width=”0″ zoom_height=”0″ column_width_pixel=”800″ width=”1\/1″][vc_custom_heading uncode_shortcode_id=”760998″]The Revival of the Louis XV Style in the 19th Century[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”110637″]The decorative arts of the 19th century were not stingy with novelties, changing fashions and charming curiosities. The Empire, Restoration, Charles X, Louis-Philippe and Napoleon III styles follow one another, always further supporting a keen craze for Japonism and chinoiseries, the styles of the Ancien R\u00e9gime, then all of this at the same time before plunging into the vegetal shapes of Art Nouveau. In this last quarter of the 19th century, the taste was eclectic but the asymmetry, the curve and the fantasy brought back to the spotlight a rococo style which was then experiencing a new golden age.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”99328″ media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”579729″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”145761″]Admittedly, this return with great pomp of references to the styles of the Ancien R\u00e9gime is not to everyone’s taste, nevertheless it is not a question of copying scrupulously. A century separates these two eras and the second often fantasizes about the first. Decorators and artists bring the paintings of Watteau and Boucher back to life. The productions of the rock taste are meant to be graceful and refined. It is above all the reign of Louis XV that seduces because it leaves the (honeyed) memory of a happy and light time, with graceful and charming concerns. We quote the Pompadour or the du Barry. And this pair of andirons is a pure and simple evocation of this period and its style.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”99338″ media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”120600″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”195560″]A novelty animates these andirons, however, a delightful novelty that the court of Louis XV would certainly have adored: two small bronzes of birds enhanced with colors are placed on each vegetal winding of gilded bronze. We could almost see it as a tribute to Versailles where parrots and parakeets were legion, amusing the courters or giving them that touch of eccentricity essential to avoid the pitfall of the ordinary or, worse, of the anonymous.<\/span><\/p>\n

On these andirons, the bronzes of birds are precisely a typical production of Vienna in the second half of the 19th century. Since the 18th century, Viennese craftsmen have made a reputation for their savoir-faire in the field of goldsmithery and more particularly, bronzes. Their reputation with the European courts and the growing bourgeoisie was well established.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”99322″ media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”171816″][vc_custom_heading uncode_shortcode_id=”817700″]The International Success of the Vienna Bronzes[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”112086″]In 1850, the first bronze factory in Vienna opened on the initiative of Mathias Bermann in Hernals, very close to the city. The craftsman begins by creating small decorative bronze figurines to adorn the pipes. He creates the molds himself, takes care of the carving and then paints by hand the little animals and characters straight out of his imagination. In 1873, he presented his creations at the Universal Exhibition in Vienna where success was not long in coming, marking the start of the production, in this same city, of the famous small bronzes renowned for their high quality.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”99334″ media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”389301″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”196801″]Following the initiative of Mathias Bermann, many workshops opened their doors and specialized in the meticulous work of metals and bronze. At the end of the 19th century, one counts <\/span>nearly 120 craftsmen united under the title of \u201cWiener Bronzen\u201d. All are distinguished by their remarkable meticulousness and the sense of detail that characterizes each sculpture. The pieces are meant to be unique thanks to the use of an always different carving and, sometimes, highlights of paint affixed by hand. This attention to detail is the reputation of the bronzes of the Austrian capital. The naturalism of this production and the multitude of subjects available are praised.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”99326″ media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”150661″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”316456″]And without a doubt, these parrots testify nicely to this famous meticulousness. Especially since animal representation is a playground for bronziers and carvers who have a field day, taking care of the details, perfecting their art as they go along with their productions.<\/p>\n

Admiring these birds, one can easily guess the meticulous observation that the bronzier made of them before embarking on the modeling and then the casting of these figurines. The Sch\u00f6nbrunn Zoological Garden<\/a>, opened in 1752, undoubtedly played a major role in this remarkable naturalism, especially since in the 19th century, access to it was free for all visitors. Like the romantic painters sketching wild animals<\/a> at the M\u00e9nagerie du Jardin des Plantes in Paris, Viennese artists and craftsmen had superb aviaries at their fingertips housing exotic birds with colorful plumage.
\nThis taste for animal representation, facilitated by the social context of the time, enabled Viennese bronziers and engravers to give life and movement to bronzes thanks to numerous details observed on the spot and thus respecting the natural model of each sculpture.<\/p>\n

Then, our birds are superb works of naturalism. Every detail is meticulous and the colors faithful to the natural model. Each of these birds is intended to be a replica of reality and the expected effect on decorative art objects, such as these andirons, is probably a trompe-l’oeil effect. <\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”99320″ media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”434128″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”214582″]<\/p>\n

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These delicate creations are a real success in France and even in the United States where the bourgeoisie loves these little sculptures. Wealthy families never tire of collecting them so that the use of this bronzes is soon available on other objects that they come to animate in an original way. This model of andirons testifies to this enthusiasm and this new fashion.<\/p>\n

Considering this eclectic style drawing on different sources of inspiration, it is clear that it is both a revival of the Louis XV style, a taste for movement and color – facilitated by the technological innovations of the 19th century – and of the attention paid in Europe to historicism. The old styles are slightly reworked to appeal to a public that is no longer that of the previous century, which does not have the means of the aristocracy of the Ancien R\u00e9gime nor the same domestic and societal uses. Between tradition and innovation, the decorative arts oscillate throughout the century and thus sign sometimes unique and often surprising creations. The bourgeoisie appropriated the codes of classic French taste and did not hesitate to mix them with novelties of its time.<\/p>\n

The size of these andirons is proof of this. Their small dimensions leave no doubt about their destination and their use in apartments – mainly Parisians – in fireplaces that no longer have the excess of those in palaces. Between the lines, one guess the character of the first owner of these andirons: bourgeois, attentive to the details of the ostentatious rooms of his apartment, anxious to be considered as a person of his time, following the tastes and selecting what was then made of better: gilded bronze in the Louis XV style and, of course, the essential Viennese bronzes.<\/p>\n

As a rare testimony to everyday life in the second half of the 19th century, these andirons embody all the renewal and creative richness of this era, from the interior layout to the values claimed in the way it was furnished.<\/p>\n

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[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”99328″ media_width_percent=”100″ uncode_shortcode_id=”116868″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”175094″]<\/p>\n

Marielle Brie
\n<\/strong>Art Historian for Art Market and Cultural Media
\nAuthor of the blog Objets d\u2019Art et d\u2019Histoire<\/p>\n

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