Bronze Statue "strength Through Unity" - d'Astanières, 1872

Bronze statue created by Clément d'Astanières (1841–1918) in 1872, signed, dated, and bearing the title *L'Union fait la Force* engraved directly onto the bronze base.

This bronze sculpture illustrates Aesop’s fable, “The Farmer’s Disunited Children,” in which the children are unable to break a bundle of sticks, and whose moral is “Unity is strength.”

After a career in the army, Clément d’Astanières was declared unfit for service following an injury. He then became a student of the famous sculptor Alexandre Falguière. He earned numerous diplomas and awards for agricultural competitions and for his artistic works.
At the Salon des Artistes Français, he received medals and quickly rose to the rank of “hors concours,” becoming a member of the jury. At the 1882 Salon, with L’Espiègle, he was awarded his first gold medal. L'Espiègle entered the national collections and is housed at the Ministry of Industry. He received two more medals for a study on ropes made of nettle fibers in 1895 and 1896, a testament to his eclecticism
He presented the marble sculpture Jongleur at the 1887 Salon, then submitted a bronze titled Acrobat to the 1889 Salon. At the 1889 Paris World’s Fair, he received a bronze medal for his Angler. He exhibited in Moscow in 1891 and at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, receiving numerous awards. He exhibited the marble sculpture The White Monk at the 1898 Salon and was awarded a medal of honor at the 1900 World’s Fair. His military background earned him numerous commissions for sculptures of soldiers, and high society in Paris sought him out for portraits.

Aesop’s Fable:
“A farmer’s children were constantly at odds with one another. No matter how much he urged them, his words were powerless to change their minds; so he resolved to teach them a lesson through action. He told them to bring him a bundle of sticks. When they had carried out his order, he first gave them the sticks tied together in a bundle and told them to break them. But despite all their efforts, they could not do so. So he untied the bundle and gave them the sticks one by one; they broke them easily. “Well,” said the father, “you too, my children, if you remain united, you will be invincible to your enemies; but if you are divided, you will be easy to defeat. ”
This fable shows that just as harmony is superior in strength, so discord is easy to overcome.”