European Sculpture & Works of Art 900-1900

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Lot 150
  • 150

Albert Bartholomé French, 1848-1928

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Description

  • Albert Bartholomé
  • La douleur (the pain)

  • stamped by the foundry: SIOT DECAUVILLE FONDEUR PARIS and numbered E161

  • bronze, dark brown patina and pink sandstone

Catalogue Note

Unveiled in Père Lachaise cemetery in 1899, the Monuments aux Morts is Bartholomé's masterpiece. Consisting of 21 over life-size figures, it took 10 years to complete and is a counterpoint in Symbolist sculpture to Rodin's Gates of Hell. Following its completion Bartholomé worked with the Siot-Decauville foundry to develop small scale groups and individual figures from the Monuments aux Morts. This example of La Douleur epitomises the thinly veiled sensuality of many elements from the monument, an effect heightened by the combination of the textured pink stone and the smooth bronze. There is another version of this work in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

RELATED LITERATURE Burollet pp.109-116, plate 115