Curators Ian Wardropper and James David Draper describe The French Parnassus, an extraordinary bronze sculpture featured in the special exhibition "Cast in Bronze: French Sculpture from Renaissance to Revolution":
Beginning in the sixteenth-century, a tradition of bronze sculpture developed in France that was influenced by achievements of the Italian Renaissance while manifesting its own distinct refinement and force. Even though French bronzes were among the glories of royal châteaux, including Versailles, and were always collected eagerly by connoisseurs, they have received relatively little scrutiny from scholars. This exhibition, the first to address the subject in many decades, displays approximately 120 of the finest statuettes, portrait busts, and monuments by masters such as Germain Pilon, Barthélemy Prieur, Michel Anguier, François Girardon, Antoine Coysevox, Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, and Jean-Antoine Houdon. Seen together, they reveal the French genius for bronze from the late Renaissance through the times of Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI.
Accompanied by a catalogue.
Curator James Draper, Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, speaks about a tradition of bronze sculpture developed in France beginning in the sixteenth century.
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The exhibition is made possible by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.
The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Musée du Louvre, Paris, and the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
