Lot n° 68
Estimation :
3000 - 5000
EUR
Result without fees
Result
: 3 100EUR
Attributed to the Marcy workshop, between 1897 and 1906, aft - Lot 68
Attributed to the Marcy workshop, between 1897 and 1906, after Nicolas de Douai and Jacques de Nivelles, based on a model by Jacques d'Anchin
Saints and apostles based on figures from the reliquary chase of Saint Gertrude de Nivelles, made between 1272-1298
Seven statuettes in gilded copper
Heights from 20.5 to 22.5 cm
Wear to gilding
Provenance: First invoice dated 1906; several successive private collectors.
Reference work :
-Nicolas de Douai et Jacques de Nivelles, based on a model by Jacques d'Anchin , Châsse de Sainte Gertrude de Nivelles, 1272-1298, reliquary in copper, gold, silver, stones and enamels, partly destroyed, Collégia le Sainte-Gertrude, Nivelles.
Comparative work:
-Italy or France, after Nicolas de Douai and Jacques de Nivelles, after a model by Jacques d'Anchin, Sainte Agnès, cast 1897/1908, gilded copper, H. 22.1cm, Washington, National Gallery of Art, n°inv. 1942.9.283.
Related literature :
- Western Decorative Arts, Part I: Medieval, Renaissance, and Historicizing Styles including Metalwork, Enamels, and Ceramics, p.54-55.
- Robert Didier, "Faux ou répliques d'après les statuettes de la châsse", in Un trésor gothique : la châsse de Nivelles, Cat Expo. Cologne, Schnütgen-Museum, November 24 1995 - February 11 1996 ; Paris, Musée national du Moyen âge-Thermes de Cluny, March 12 - June 10 1996, Paris, RMN, Ss dir. Viviane Huchard, pp.188 ff.
This series of seven statuettes in gilded copper bears witness to the craze for collecting medieval art objects at the end of the 19th century, and to the steps taken by the market to respond to the growing appetite for collecting, through the distribution of replicas of the most insignificant works of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. These saints were made from elements of the masterpiece of Mosan Gothic goldsmithery, the reliquary shrine from the church of Sainte-Gertrude in Nivelles.
This shrine, a remarkable Gothic church miniature, is documented as the work of silversmiths Nicolas de Douai and Jacques de Nivelles, based on a model by monk-silversmith Jacques d'Anchin made between 1272 and 1298. This exceptional work, measuring 180 cm in length and 54 cm in height, has had a prestigious and tumultuous history: it was notably bombed during the Second World War: fortunately, 337 fragments survived and are now preserved in the Collegiate Church treasury.
Prior to this, the shrine had been completely cast in 1897 by the Service des Moulages of the Musée Royal d'Art et d'Histoire in Brussels. This practice contributed to the proliferation of reproductions of the shrine's figures, as did the casts and electroplasties made from the most outstanding medieval and Renaissance works preserved in various European museums, whose primary aim was didactic. Due to the graceful and elegant nature of the figures in the Sainte-Gertrude shrine, replicas proliferated at the turn of the 19th century, most of them taking on the status of Gothic originals. A number of these works were acquired by famous private or institutional collections, such as the National Gallery of Washington, which holds a replica of Saint Agnes. In his article published in the exhibition catalog on the Châsse de Sainte Gertrude de Nivelle in 1996, art historian Robert Didier took up the hypothesis of production by a workshop active in Italy or Paris, perhaps that of one of the most talented forgers of the early 20th century, Louis Marcy, alias Luigi Parmeggiani (1860-1945).
Born in Italy in 1860, Luigi Parmeggiani trained in a jewelry workshop before joining Victor Marcy's forgery workshop in London, then Paris, as an apprentice in 1887. While active as an anarchist, he was also a successful art dealer and expert. He continued the Marcy family's forgery business, marrying the heiress and taking her maiden name. The replicas produced by the Marcy workshop, with their undeniable quality of execution, are now considered interesting testimonies to the history of taste and collecting in the early 20th century, as well as precious souvenirs of the original work, due to the partial and unfortunate destruction it underwent in 1940.
Expert: Cabinet Sculpture & Collection, Mme Elodie Jeannest de Gyvès and M. Alexandre Lacroix
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