. English: Watercolour and gouache over lithographic line, on laid paper. Inscribed: Jeannest invt. / Imprie Lithoie de C. Motte rue des Marais. Numbered: 7. Dimensions: 68 cm. by cm. The design attributed to Louis-François Jeannest. To be executed in gilt bronze and verde antiquo marble; silvered metal dial. The king’s bust, probably after Barthélémy Prieur, on a plinth fronted by the French chivalric Order of St Michael, the collar of the order forming the bezel to the dial suspending its insignia, a medallion of the saint overcoming the dragon. The Jeannest who is credited with this de
. English: Watercolour and gouache over lithographic line, on laid paper. Inscribed: Jeannest invt. / Imprie Lithoie de C. Motte rue des Marais. Numbered: 7. Dimensions: 68 cm. by cm. The design attributed to Louis-François Jeannest. To be executed in gilt bronze and verde antiquo marble; silvered metal dial. The king’s bust, probably after Barthélémy Prieur, on a plinth fronted by the French chivalric Order of St Michael, the collar of the order forming the bezel to the dial suspending its insignia, a medallion of the saint overcoming the dragon. The Jeannest who is credited with this design might be the early nineteenth century sculptor, Louis-François Jeannest, who was a leading member of the Association des Fabricants de Bronzes and, besides exhibiting at the Paris Salons, worked in association with bronziers. Henri IV (reigned 1589/94-1610) was the first king of the Bourbon dynasty in France. Raised as a Huguenot he had to become Catholic in order to ascend the French throne, famously commenting that ‘Paris is worth a Mass’. Henri IV was the most popular of French kings and his cult was much in vogue towards the end of the 18th century. As the Bourbons’ founding father, he was a natural symbol of legitimacy for the restoration of the Bourbons after the defeat of Napoleon in 1814-15, and his cult was rekindled to emphasize Louis XVIII’s role as a reunifying bringer of peace and as a king close to his people. Thus several clocks with the image of Henri, who had also to struggle to ascend the throne, date from the Restoration period. The Ordre de Saint-Michel was founded by Louis XI on August 1, 1469. Louis XI had a particular devotion to the saint, but additionally St. Michael with his imagery of vanquishing the Devil could serve as a useful allegory for the then recent expulsion of the English from France. That allegory could now be freshly directed in the Restoration period to indicate the unseating of Napoleon. The order’s collar consisted
Size: 1982px × 2523px
Photo credit: © The Picture Art Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., /, /., 1815, , , louis-françois
