Pair Of Large Candlesticks Signed Gérard-jean Galle "1788-1846" Early 19th Century

Pair of large gilt bronze candlesticks signed GF for *Gérard-Jean Galle early 19th century circa 1820. The vase-shaped sockets are finely chiseled with florets and water flowers. Fluted baluster-shaped shafts topped with a fruit basket ending in delicately chiseled arabesques. They rest on circular bases richly decorated with acanthus leaves, dragonflies resting on floral garlands, the whole encircled by a frieze of water flowers. Original double patina mercury gilding in very good condition cleaned by our workshop (light wear). Both bases bear the mark GF for *Gérard Jean Galle. *Gérard-Jean Galle (1788-1846) was the son of Claude Galle (1759-1815), one of the most important Parisian bronze casters of the late 18th century and the Empire period. After a brilliant military career in Napoleon's army, Gérard-Jean took over his father's workshop in 1815. He created exceptional works in bronze, often based on originals made by his father. In 1819, at the Exposition des produits de l'Industrie organized at the Louvre Museum, he brilliantly won a silver medal for his bronze clocks and lighting fixtures. He subsequently became a supplier to the crown and the high aristocracy, notably the Duke of Richelieu, the Marquis de Martel and the Viscount de la Rochefoucauld. However, the July Revolution of 1830 and the rise of the Orléans to power degraded his business, the craftsman went bankrupt and died in 1846. Today, some of the bronze-worker's creations belong to large private and public collections, particularly those at the Château de la Malmaison, the former residence of Joséphine de Beauharnais, and at the Musée Marmottan in Paris.