Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi French, 1834-1904

The present allegorical figures of Africa and Asia are reductions of two of the four monumental marble statues, two female and two male, representing the Quatre parties du monde. They were sculpted by Bartholdi as part of his monument to Admiral Bruat in Colmar.  Bartholdi, author of the famous Statue of Liberty in New York, was also a native of the city. The Musée Bartholdi has a dedicated room to the monument, which displays many of the terracotta and plaster maquettes, including preliminary terracotta figures for the present pair of bronzes.

The project occupied Bartholdi from 1862 until its unveiling in 1864.  At the Salon of 1863, Bartholdi exhibited the constituent parts of the memorial (no.2237). The figure of Bruat was cast in bronze and placed on a stone pedestal, while the continents were carved in stone and placed on squat plinths. The monument visible today is, unfortunately, a reconstruction dating to 1958. The original monument was destroyed during the invasion of 1940. The stone heads of the reclining figures survive in the Musée Bartholdi.

Armand Joseph Bruat (1796-1855) was a distinguished French Admiral.  He joined the Navy in 1811 at the height of the Napoleonic Wars and served in Brazil, the West Indies and the Pacific. He took part in the Battle of Navarino in 1827 and was made Governor of the Marquesas Islands in 1843. During this time, he was able to convince Queen Pomare of Tahiti to acknowledge a French protectorate over her realm, and established the town of Papeete. In 1854 Bruat was promoted to Commander of the French Fleet in the Black Sea during the Crimean War where he distinguished himself in the relief of Kinburn. He died of cholera while returning to Toulon via Cape Matapan and was honoured as a national hero.

RELATED LITERATURE
Lami, vol.1, p.65; Vidal, pp.24-28