Bronze casting in St. Petersburg

Date: 21.07.2006 Source: Magazin "/" #33 Author: Marina Dashkova

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Bronze sculptures with the brand "F. Chopin" form an outstanding part of Russian bronze casting. The excellent skills of the casters and artists of that renowned firm ensured a superb quality of their works, which now belong to the leading museum and private collections all over the word.

Lanceray E. Steeple-chase. Model of 1882. Casting by F. Chopin. 1880s. Bronze, foundry, chasing, assembling, dark toning, lacquer. 31.5 x 44.0 x 25.0 cm. ⌠Antique Interior■, Moscow [zoom (70k)]

Both monumental and easel bronze sculptures are always connected with foundry. When we speak about the development of the Russian bronze casting of the second half of the XIX century, we cannot but mention the name of Felix Chopin, the owner of a major bronze casting factory in St. Petersburg.

This well-known in Russia brand appeared in the beginning of the XIX century when in 1805 merchant Geren founded a small bronze casting factory in St. Petersburg, in the 25th Line of Vasilyevsky Island. Later his establishment went over to a French businessman, Chopin (Senior), who invested additional funds to reconstruct and develop the factory. Already in the 1820s he employed casters, chasers, and gilders from France, because at that time French casting and sculptures were considered to be the best example of excellence. Chopin continued the development of the factory, and in 1843 it was already quite large: about one hundred employees. For comparison, one can take the foundry factory of N.F. Stange, one of the best at that time. In the second half of the 1850s, its staff numbered only about forty people.

In the middle of the XIX century the factory of Chopin Senior passed into the hands of his son ≈ Felix Chopin, who started his work in the 1850s. Until the 1870s, the factory buildings were located in the 25th Line of Vasilyevsky Island, in the place of the current houses No 6 and 8. This factory building, where there was bronze and cast iron production, has not remained till present. It was built according to a design project by architect F. Dezirais, passed through many hands, and finally was destroyed.

Felix Chopin wanted to sell his products, so he opened his own shops. One of them was situated in St. Petersburg, in Bolshaja Morskaja Street, 70, in the house owned by Ruadze. But of all houses existing in this street (in the modern numeration), Ruadze owned only the house ╧ 16, where there was a concert hall on the second floor. Probably it was in the house ╧ 16 where Felix Chopin▓s had his shop. The second shop was opened in the house ╧ 56 in Tverskaja Street in Moscow. In these shops customers could purchase mass consumption products: clocks, candelabrums, chandeliers, fireplace decorations in the high French fashion of that time, and copies of popular French bronze sculptures ≈ nymphs, Bacchants, satires, putti, mythological groups. Felix Chopin tried to issue products that would sell well and gain profit.

Lanceray E. Race horse. Model of 1886. Bronze, foundry, chasing, assembling, brown toning. 39.0 x 49.0 x 21.5 cm. ⌠Antique Interior■, Moscow [zoom (80k)]

Felix Chopin▓s factory fulfilled many orders from the state. His masters cast decorations for the Kazan and Isaac Cathedrals, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Grand Kremlin Palace, and many residence palaces of Russian tsars. Apart from such monumental decoration orders, many minor works were fulfilled, which, nevertheless, were of the same high quality. Among them was illuminating equipment for Tsarskoe Selo, Pavlovsk, and Gatchina. Following the orders from the Emperor▓s Porcelain and Glass Factories, bronze decorations for porcelain and glass products were made. Chopin▓s factory also produced bronze details for stone vases made at the Yekaterinburg lapidary factory. The insignificant at the first glance details of the palace interiors ≈ window latches, door handles, and other small articles ≈ were produced by Chopin▓s masters, too. Such products were cast according to the drawings and design projects of masters and artists whose names remain unknown to us.

All further work of Felix Chopin shows that he was a creative and open-minded person, which enabled him to guess about the current tendencies of his time and the upcoming changes in the art life of the second half of the century. As a result, his factory took a very special place among other similar establishments. Chopin▓s factory was not just a bronze casting factory producing high-quality goods ≈ it acquainted the whole country with modern Russian art, which corresponded to the modern ideas spreading in the society. Felix Chopin made a considerable contribution to the development of realism in the easel sculpture of his time; due to his efforts, this art style became well-known not only in Russia, but also abroad.

Chopin▓s first experience in the development in sculpture of images and topics from Russian history was a series of busts depicting Russian tsars (63 items); it was created at his factory in the first half of the 1850s. These works (along with the caskets for manuscripts from the Kremlin) were designed by academic F.G. Solntsev; they showed an example of the denial of the French fashion, retrospective tendencies, and historical stylizations. The busts made in actual size signified Chopin▓s attention to Russian history topics. However, contrary to Chopin▓s expectations, they got cool welcome from the society, critics, and even the Ministry of the Emperor▓s Court. Only when they were repeated in a reduced (study-room) version, the busts received the deserved high estimation. Every bust was established on a round pedestal with the name of the tsar. They were made of various materials: from expensive gilded bronze to zinc. The main thing was that now they gained success. They remained popular until the end of the century, and new series were produced again and again.

Lanceray E. A rich Arabian merchant. Model of 1884. Casting by F. Chopin. Bronze, casting, patine. 68.0 x 45.4 x 23.7 cm. ⌠Antique Interior■, Moscow [zoom (34k)]

From the point of view of art, Felix Chopin made a decisive choice when he got acquainted with the works of the young author E. Lancere. Chopin saw the bright shoots of a new art style in the works of the twenty-two-year-old sculptor. Already in 1870 Chopin▓s factory cast such sculptures as ⌠Circassian Smoking■, ⌠Circassian Looking Back■, ⌠On Sledges■, ⌠Peasant with a Cart■. In the end of the 1870s, almost ten years after the beginning of their creative cooperation, Chopin bought from the artist the right to produce 17 sculpture models. Among them were ⌠Cossack▓s Farewell to His Wife■, "Catching a Wild Horse", "Cossack with a Horse Killed under Him", "Falconer", "Kyrgyz Hunter with a Golden Eagle", and others.

In 1883, by commission from Chopin, E.A. Lanсere went to Algeria, where he created a series of works depicting local images. They included "Arab Falconer Astride with a Falcon in His Hand", "Killed Arab with a Horse Standing beside Him", "Algerian Donkey", and others. This cooperation considerably affected the further trends in the work of the factory and the works of the Russian sculptor, which are highly estimated nowadays. During the last three years E. Lanсere▓s works cast by Felix Chopin appeared in major world auctions (Sotheby▓s, Hampel in Munich, and others) more than 200 times.

Felix Chopin also cast the works of A. Ober and N. Liberich, Russian animal sculptors. Their sculptures, together with E. Lancere▓s works, were exhibited in 1870 and received much appreciation. Felix Chopin▓s bronze casting gained the features of realistic chamber sculpture.

The new topics used by Chopin soon started to bring him much profit. Werfel and Hesserich used these patterns, too, but the quality of their production was lower. Moran, however, was Chopin▓s serious rival at the market: he used topics form national history as well, but the amount of his production was larger.

The situation at the art market of the capital at the beginning of the 1870s required from Chopin to expand his business. He founded a factory and a shop in Obukhovskij Prospect (now the part of Moskovskij Prospect from Sennaja Square to the embankment of the Fontanka River) in the house ╧ 12 (the building has not remained). The location of the factory and the shop in a single building helped to reduce the selling values.

Lanceray E. Bogatyr. Model of 1885. Casting by F. Chopin. Bronze, foundry, chasing, assembling, patine. 75.0 x 58.0 x 21.0 cm. ⌠Antique Interior■, Moscow [zoom (37k)]

It was the golden era of the factory. Felix Chopin often presented his products designed by Russian authors at art and industry exhibitions, where they almost always received high estimations and appreciation. Among the sculptors working with Chopin were Antokolskiy, Bosse, Laveretsky, Monigetti, Nabokov, Gun, and Chichagov.

In 1882 in Moscow Felix Chopin was elected member of the expert commission of the exhibition of factory-made and industrial metal products. He was also awarded "the right to have a coat of arms for the introduction in Russia, together with foundry, many new models of high quality, for the long existence of the company, and for the steady striving for perfection". In fact, his products were easily recognizable at the exhibition because of Russian models and the high quality of casting and chasing.

The production of the factory was always in high demand. His bronze sculptures, unusually patinated or bright, sometimes gilded, but always of highest quality, were extremely popular and decorated the interiors of palaces and mansions. The sculptures of realists cast at his factory opened a new page in the development of the Russian plastic arts of the second half of the XIX century.

After the death of Felix Chopin at the end of the 1880s, his daughter, who inherited the factory, got married and moved to France. The factory went over to Carl Berto, who had already learned all skills and secrets of the craftsmanship. That was the beginning of the next stage in the history of this large bronze casting factory of St. Petersburg.