David By Antonin Mercié

Bronze with brown patina representing King David victorious over Goliath.
It rests on a circular base, decorated with oriental motifs.
Signed hollow on the base: "A. Mercié". Founder Barbedienne. COLAS mechanical reduction.
Period late 19th century.
Antonin Mercié born in Toulouse on October 29, 1854 and died in Paris on December 13, 1916 is a French sculptor and painter. The plaster model of "David" was executed by Antonin Mercié at the Villa Medici in Rome between 1869 and 1870. Echoing the political realities of the moment, in particular the defeat of 1870, the sculpture quickly enjoyed enormous success: the plaster which earned the young artist the Legion of Honor, was commissioned in bronze by the State in 1872, exhibited at the Salon of the same year, then placed in the Luxembourg Museum in 1874. It became one of the most widely disseminated images in illustrated newspapers, and knows such a craze that it is published in small size, and in six different sizes by the founder Barbedienne. A marble copy was presented at the Universal Exhibition of 1889 and a plaster copy at the Universal Exhibition of 1900. Other life-size bronze copies are in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and at the Musée des beaux -arts of Toulouse.