FRANÇOIS-CHRISTOPHE-ARMAND TOUSSAINT (FRENCH, 1806–1862)

Having studied under David D'Angers at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from the age of 21, Toussaint went on to receive the Grand Prix de Rome four years later with a figure titled Canapée foudroyé sous les murs de thèbes. The present bronzes are after the models first exhibited in plaster at the 1847 Salon (no. 2161). Exhibited in again bronze in 1850 (no. 3313), a pair were commissioned by the French state on 23 February of the same year for the Ministre de l'Intérieur at the Elysée Palace. It is likely as a result of this that Toussaint was awarded the Médaille de la Légion d'Honneur in 1852. With this impressive pair, Toussaint demonstrates the remarkable vision and talent that earned him this honour, a true tour-de-force of fashionable Far-Eastern elegance.

The present figures are examples of the largest size edited by the Barbedienne foundry as listed in their 1886 catalogue. They were also cast in life size by the Graux-Marly foundry who exhibited a pair at the 1862 International Exhibition in London, where they were described by the French reporter Deherain as 'During one of our last Salons, everyone was struck by those half naked figures, with their eyes on the ground, expressing the resignation of a vanquished people; these are two excellent candelabra models, who have been reduced to numerous dimensions; these will be beautiful at the bottom of a monumental stair'.