Style Napoleon III / Ref.11100

Henri LEMOINE, Maison LEMOINE, LEMARCHAND AND Edmond BÉRANGER, Exceptional Renaissance-style library "The Arts and Sciences" Gold Medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1867

This large glazed bookcase is a rare creation by the cabinet-maker Henri Lemoine, which earned him the gold medal at the 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris. Renaissance in inspiration, it is decorated with enamels on the theme of Knowledge by Edmond Béranger, a painter for the Manufacture de Sèvres who received several awards. The medallions bear the profiles of Galileo, the illustrious sixteenth-century astronomer, and Raphael, the great Renaissance artist. The cartouches depict allegories: most likely that of Astronomy (the muse Urania), holding a starry globe and a compass, and that of History (the muse Clio), of Poetry (the muse Calliope) or, more broadly, of Learning, represented with a book and a stylus. They were also interpreted as allegories of Study and Memory by one of the artist's contemporaries. They are dressed in antique-style drapery and adorned with ornaments characteristic of the taste for the Renaissance.

At their feet, human heads are set into architectural shells around which the signature of Edmond Béranger and the inscription « SEVRES. 1867 » are affixed. Two figures in the form of young caryatids support an architrave adorned with refined sculptures depicting vegetal garlands and a laurel wreath, the tree emblematic of Apollo whose branches symbolise wisdom, glory and triumph.

The cornice supports a substantial broken architectural pediment featuring a cartouche surrounded by two sheathed female busts, cordage, bouquets of flowers and fruit, and acanthus leaves. Delicate sculptures adorn this luxury piece, enhanced with some bronzes, including Athena (or Minerva), goddess of Wisdom, who presides over the lower central section of the cabinet, which opens with two doors and bears the allegorical cartouches mentioned above. Her bust is framed by a finely carved laurel wreath and two chimeras resting on the broken pediment that decorates the central section of the rail separating the two registers of the piece. The latter is richly ornamented with various elements drawn from the Renaissance decorative vocabulary.

Numerous columns adorn the piece: they emphasise the uprights in the upper section, frame the doors of the lower section, or appear to support the rail. They all illustrate different styles and evoke, through their fluting and their capitals (Ionic and Corinthian), the various orders of ancient Greek architecture. The open spaces in the lower register lend lightness to the piece and are decorated with finely carved medallions.

The bookcase offers three glazed compartments capable of housing books or curiosities. The medallions bearing the profiles of Raphael and Galileo are set into panels which, when opened, reveal precious medal drawers on one side and jewel drawers on the other. These interior sections are executed in a particularly refined marquetry that creates a striking contrast with the dark colour of the piece.

At the 1867 Universal Exhibition, Henri Lemoine presented a collection of everyday furniture, representative of everything his shop could offer, and on his stand this magnificent Renaissance-style bookcase held pride of place. The centrepiece, it was displayed between two gaines with blue niello on a gold ground supporting Sèvres vases. It was noticed by the writer Auguste Luchet, also governor of the Château de Fontainebleau, who gave a detailed description of this work in L'Art industriel à l'Exposition universelle (1868).

The work struck him as sufficiently remarkable that he republished this extract in Le Monde illustré, accompanied by an engraving by Valentin:

"The principal piece [...] represents a Henri II cabinet, in blackened pear wood. [...] The construction is that of a two-body armoire. The lower section, with solid doors and lateral openings, is decorated with enamel subjects symbolising Study and Memory. Well-made bronzes enhance the frieze, including a head of Minerva [...] surmounting the dense carving. [...] Columns of fine execution support the whole. The upper body is in three parts closed by glazed doors; in the centre the books, on either side the curiosities: interior lining of dark cloth. Beneath the lateral vitrines are two small cabinets adorned with the enamel medallions of Raphael and Galileo: the doors of these cabinets fold down as shelves, revealing precious medal drawers, no less precious jewel drawers. From there rise columns and caryatids nobly supporting an excellent cornice, crowned by a most opulent pediment whose crest is an antique lamp, an ingenious emblem of the general purpose of the piece. Light! [...] No gold; which is an exquisite proof of good taste."

Luchet praised the quality of the enamels by Edmond Béranger, a Sèvres painter who would later receive a silver medal in 1880 at the sixth exhibition of the Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs (UCAD). Two years later, he obtained a silver medal in the Course on Heat Applied to Industry given by the Société Libre d'émulation du commerce et de l'industrie de la Seine-inférieure, a learned society founded in Rouen in 1792 that published an annual bulletin and organised competitions.

This is a major rediscovery: the work was indeed known to scholars through period documents, but its whereabouts were unknown. This bookcase, essential both in terms of art history and in terms of the history of the firm, illustrates the savoir-faire of French cabinet-makers. The Musée d'Orsay holds a masterpiece produced by the Maison Lemoine et Lemarchand and Joseph Cremer: a richly inlaid centre table.

This bookcase, gold medal winner at the 1867 Universal Exhibition, was made by the Maison Lemoine et Lemarchand, a renowned supplier to the Crown (from 1817) and subsequently to the Empire. This venerable firm has its origins in the eighteenth century with Charles-Joseph Lemarchand, who left the workshop to his son Louis-Édouard Lemarchand in 1815. He was the patent supplier to Charles X and Louis-Philippe: particularly appreciated by the latter, he produced numerous pieces of furniture between 1835 and 1840, including the bed of the Duke and Duchess of Orléans. In 1846 he went into partnership with André Lemoine (or Lemoyne), a "dealer in exotic woods", to found the Maison Lemoine et Lemarchand. In 1852, André Lemoine took over the business and collaborated with his son, Henri Lemoine, the creator of our bookcase. Together they participated in two Universal Exhibitions: that of 1855 in Paris, where they exhibited a rosewood chest inlaid with tin, and that of 1862 in London, where they exhibited a Louis XVI-style wardrobe with mirror.

Between 1863 and 1893, it was Henri Lemoine who directed this Parisian firm at 17 rue de Tournelles. A major cabinet-maker and upholsterer of the Second Empire, Henri Lemoine thus found himself at the head of a historic house, and capitalised on this to democratise the training of art trades. In 1866, he contacted his colleagues Fourdinois, Godin, Grohé, Guéret, Herteinstein, Meynard and Schmitt to create a Patronage industriel des Enfants de l'Ébénisterie, today the École d'Ameublement de Paris. The foundation of the school was sponsored by Empress Eugénie. Henri Lemoine thus initiated an institution that contributed to the revival of the luxury industries, organising a competition each year from 1867. That same year, he participated in the Universal Exhibition where he displayed our exceptional piece, evoking the Renaissance and the lights of Science.

He also created, towards the end of the century, the Fondation Henri Lemoine, which organised free courses in drawing and modelling as well as competitions at the École spéciale du Patronage des Enfants de l'Ébénisterie. Worthy of his predecessors, Henri Lemoine was a patent supplier to Emperor Napoleon III. In 1893, the firm was finally absorbed by Charles Jeanselme.

Bibliography:
Denise Ledoux-Lebard, Les Ébénistes parisiens du XIX^e siècle (1795-1870). Leurs œuvres et leurs marques, Paris, F. de Nobele, 1965.
Auguste Luchet, "Les meubles de M. Lemoine" in Le Monde illustré, 10 August 1867, pp. 91 and 94.