Gabriel Vital-Dubray, ROBERT JOSEPH POTHIER

cast bronze, patinated, chiseled, 53 x 18 x 18 cm, overall height 69 cm
base - wood
signed VITAL DUBRAY
On the base a cartouche with signature: R. J. POTHIER

Robert Joseph Pothier (Orleans 1699 - ibid 1772) was a prominent French jurist of the Enlightenment period. He conducted a profound revision of the legal corpus, thereby contributing to the development of the French Civil Code of 1804. In 1859, a monument to him, chiseled by Gabriel Vital-Dubray, was unveiled on Place Sainte-Croix in Orléans. The monument was removed by the Vichy government during World War II and, like many other bronze sculptures at the time, melted down. The sculpture on offer is a high-grade bronze, which is a reduction of the famous monument. Bronzes of this kind belonged to luxury cabinet furnishings in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

Gabriel Vital Dubray (called Vital-Dubray, Paris 1813 - Paris 1892) - came from an aristocratic family. He studied sculpture under Étienne-Jules Ramey, and began studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1829. He exhibited his works at the Salons from 1840 to 1882, and is the author of numerous sculptures, including monuments: Napoleon in Rouen, Jeanne Hachette in Beauvais, Empress Josephine in Fort-de-France, and the Fountain of Fame in Saint-Flour. His oeuvre was highly regarded by his contemporaries: during the Second Empire, he was first awarded the Chevalier's Cross of the Legion of Honor, and then, in 1865, the officer's rosette. The artist's sculptures are in the collections of museums in Orléans, Bourges, Rouen, Aurillac, Paris and the Palace of Versailles.