Rare pair of cast iron torchieres from the Lacarrière Delatour & Cie
foundry, Napoleon III period.
Paris c. 1880s
The torches rest on an original plinth .
They bear the stamp of the founder on the base: Lacarrière Delatour & Cie
Electricité rue de l'Entrepot Paris.
Dimensions;
H160 cm / H62.99 inch.
Lacarrière foundry:
The Parisian Lacarrière foundry was founded in 1825 at 3 bis, rue
Ste-Elisabeth. Specialized in gas lighting appliances, the company
received various honorable mentions and medals at the Expositions des
produits de l'industrie français, e de Paris in 1834, 1839 and 1844 and
was represented more than twelve times at the Universal Expositions. In
1860 the company changed its name to Lacarrière, Ernest Fils, and again in
1862 to Lacarrière (A.) Père, Fils et Cie. In 1875, the company was
transformed into Lacarrière Delatour, et Cie., under which name the
majority of the floor lamps, candelabra and chandeliers of the Paris Opera
were cast and chiselled, including that of the auditorium, designed by
Charles Garnier , the architect of the Opera, and modeled by Corboz.
During the Universal Exhibition of 1878, the catalog recalls that "their
exhibition testifies to great skill and a very pure taste in lighting
bronzes intended for private homes". Finally, we owe them the fourteen
monumental candelabra of the Alexandre III bridge in Paris; a real tour de
force at the time, since the most important of these pieces weighs 667 kg,
for a height of 4.50 m and a diameter of 4.70 m.
Bibliography: Catalog of the Universal Exhibition, Paris, 1878. The
universe of bronzes, Yves Devaux, Ed. Pygmalion, Paris, 1978, p° 278.
“Small sculpture in the 19th century. The publishers”, Bernard Metman,
Archives of French Art, 1989, t. XXX, p. 200.
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