Lacarriere Delatour & Cie, Pair Of Torcheres, France, Circa 1890

An impressive pair of candelabra in the Neoclassical style, crafted fromchiseled bronze, gilded and patinated. The upper section is crowned by anopenwork antique-style bowl flanked by two ram’s heads, restingon a vase from which a cluster of six lamp arms extends, adorned with volutesand foliage scrolls. The central, tapered shaft is decorated with friezesof medallions and laurel garlands in gilded bronze; the entire piece rests on atripod base supported by three corbels, all ending in lion’spaws.

Biography

Lacarrièrefounded a workshop in 1825 at 3 bis Rue Sainte-Elisabeth. A simple craftsman, hespecialized and excelled in the use of bronze inlighting fixtures. As early as 1834, he received an honorable mention; in 1839, abronze medal, and in 1844, a silver medal for a large candelabra with atriangular base, foreshadowing the one presented at the Great Exhibition in Londonin 1862. He also participated in the design of the chandelier for theQueen’s Theater in London. From 1851 to 1870, he changed his company name several times.Lacarrière,Delatour & Co. (active in 1870) cast and engraved the majority of thefloor lamps, candelabras, and chandeliers for the Paris Opera, including the one in theauditorium, designed by Charles Garnier, the Opera’s architect, and modeled byCorboz. At the 1878 World’s Fair, the catalog took care to notethat “their exhibition demonstrates great skill and very refined taste inbronze lighting fixtures intended for private homes.” Finally, they are credited withthe fourteen monumental candelabras on the Alexandre III Bridge in Paris—a truefeat of engineering at the time, since the largest of these pieces weighs 667 kg,stands 4.50 m tall, and has a diameter of 4.70 m.