A pair of bronze, gilt-bronze and rouge griotte marble candelabra attributed to Galle Empire, first quarter 19th century

one with Mercury, the other with Diana, each holding aloft five scrolled candelarms cast with acanthus and berried laurel scolls with a central raised candlenozzle, on a rouge griotte socle mounted with a winged female term and a winged ribbon-tied torch, on a square base

Comparative Literature:
Hans Ottomeyer/Peter Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Vol. I, Munich,1986, p. 330, fig. 5.2.6,  and 390, fig. 5.17.1. d.

This impressive pair of candelabra reflect the interest in the Antique in the late 18th and early 19th century with the figures of Mercury and Diana. The model for Mercury is based upon the famous Renaissance bronze by the sculptor Giovanni Bologna (1529-1608) which he sent to Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici in Rome in 1580. Until 1780, the statue ornamented a fountain at the Villa Medici when the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo moved it to Florence, where it is now in the Bargello Museum. Bologna's Mercury became one of the most celebrated representations of all time and was subsequently reproduced by later artists. The pose of Diana is surely inspired by a design for a candelabrum by Charles Normand, Paris, c. 1819, from Receuil d'ornaments, Detail, (Bibliothèque Doucet IV B 28), illustrated by Ottomeyer/ Pröschel, op. cit. p. 390, fig. 5.17.1. Also see a similar figure on a pair of candelabra illustrated by the same authors, op. cit., p. 330, fig. 5.2.6.in Schloss Ludwigsburg, however, they have a different upper section and base to those on the offered pair.

See a pair of candelabra authenticated as being by Claude Galle or his son Gérard with a virtually identical figure of Mercury and upper section, on a similar base in sienna marble with a male term, offered for sale in these Rooms,10th December 2003, lot 231. A related  but much larger pair with Diana and Apollo with a very similar upper section on a different base was sold Christie's, Monaco, 13th December 1998, lot 431. 

Claude Galle (1759-1815), Gérard Galle (1788-1846): 
The renowned Empire bronzier Claude Galle or his eldest son, Gérard Galle, who worked with his father and took over the family business at rue Vivienne upon his father's death are almost certainly the makers of this pair of candelabra. Gérard whose business was regarded as one of the best in Paris, frequented by the most illustrious clientèle, soon proved that he could maintain his father's excellent reputation.