ref. 1838

F. LINKE

Cabinet-Maker and Bronze-Caster
(1855-1946)

attributed to

Chandelier with Cupids

France
Circa 1880

Gilded bronze

Height : 110 cm ( 43,3 in.) ; Diameter : 90 cm ( 35,4 in.)

Beautiful Louis XV style chased gilt bronze chandelier with nine lights. The central part of the chandelier is formed by three scrolls and is embellished with a flowering vase and cupids. Two of them hold laurel wreaths, another a tower in reference to the Marquise de Pompadour’s coat of arms, and the three in the upper part, hunting attributes including horns and bows, referring to the episode of Louis XV’s meeting with the Marquise de Pompadour during a hunting party. The piece ends with a seed decorated with partridges, symbols of love.

Related Works

 

Therefore a chandelier from a same design can be found in François Linke’s photographic archives. Indeed, the bronziers of the 19th century, notably F. Linke, H. Dasson and H. Vian, were inspired by a model made by the bronze-caster Caffieri around 1750-1755, delivered for the Marquise de Pompadour for her Château de Crécy or her Hôtel d’Évreux, and was installed in the Mazarine library in Paris after the French Revolution. (cf. Pierre Verlet, Les bronzes dorés français du XVIIIe siècle, Picard, 1987, p.288).

 

Biographies

François Linke, born in 1855 in Bohemia (Czechoslovakia), worked as a cabinet-maker in Paris from about 1882 until his death in 1946. In 1900, at the apex of his career, he opened a new shop at the famous Parisian place Vendôme. He specialized in Louis XV and Louis XVI style furniture: all pieces were beautifully mounted with gilt-bronze ornaments, and he received numerous commissions. Later Linke decided to collaborate with the well-known sculptor Léon Messagé and integrated new lines and shapes announcing the “Art Nouveau” style. His great success is definitely the 1900 Universal Exhibition where he was awarded the gold medal for his extraordinary kingwood desk, designed by Messagé. At this occasion, the “Revue artistique et industrielle” commented that “Linke’s stand is the biggest show in the history of art furniture”.

Jacques Caffieri was a French bronze-caster born in Paris in 1678 to a family of bronze-caster and chiselers whose father, Philippe Caffieri, left Naples for France at the request of Cardinal Mazarin, becoming sculptor to the King. Jacques was admitted to the Académie de Saint-Luc as a sculptor and received the title of master foundryman and chaser in 1715. He began working for the King in 1736 and was appointed “fondeur-ciseleur des bâtiments du Roi” until his death in 1755.) He received numerous royal commissions, notably for the palaces of Fontainebleau, Versailles, Choisy and Marly. These prestigious orders also enabled him to receive numerous private requests from leading figures at court, including Madame de Pompadour.