Jacques Caffieri

Jacques Caffieri (1678 - 1755) was a French sculptor, the most famous member of a family distinguished in works of sculpture, for the most part in bronze.

The founder of this dynasty was Philippe Caffieri (1634-1716), a decorative sculptor, who, after serving Pope Alexander VII, was brought to France by Cardinal Mazarin and entered the service of Louis XIV in 1660. He married the sister of the king's painter, Charles Le Brun. An elder son of Philippe, François-Charles (1667-1721), was associated with him. As "fondeurs-ciseleurs", "founders and finishers", the renown of the house centred in Philippe's son Jacques, though later it is not easy to distinguish between Jacques' work and that of his son, the younger Philippe (1714-1777).

Jacques Caffiéri was the fifth son of Philippe. Jacques was received a "maître fondeur-ciseleur" by 1715, the date of his first known work, a design for a pall for the "Corporation des Fondeurs-Ciseleurs" one of two Parisian guilds that oversaw works cast in metal, from full-scale sculptures to gilt-bronze furniture mounts, wall-lights and candlesticks.

A large proportion of his brilliant achievement as a designer and chaser in bronze and other metals was executed for the crown at Versailles, Fontainebleau, Marly, Compiègne, Choisy and the Château de La Muette, and the crown, ever in his debt, still owed him money at his death. Philippe and his son Jacques undoubtedly worked together in the Appartement du Dauphin at Versailles, and although much of their contribution has disappeared, the gilt-bronze decorations of the marble chimney-piece still remain. They belong to the best of full-blown Rococo style; vigorous and graceful in design, they are executed with splendid skill.

After the elder Philippe's death in 1716, Jacques continued to work for the crown, but had many private clients. From the Caffieri workshop in rue des Canettes came an amazing amount of work, chiefly in the shape of those gilt-bronze furniture mounts which adorned furniture by the best "ébénistes" of Paris. Little of his achievement was ordinary; an astonishingly large proportion of it is famous. In the Wallace Collection, London, [F 86] is the royal "commode" delivered in 1739 for Louis XV's bedchamber at Versailles: it is richly mounted with an integrated series of corner mounts, "chutes" and "sabots", and the drawer-fronts and a single composition into which the handles are fully integrated. It must have been the result of close cooperation between Caffiéri and Antoine-Robert Gaudreau, "ébéniste du Roi" who was responsible for the veneered carcase. In 1747 Caffiéri supplied gilt-bronze mounts for the marble chimneypiece in the Dauphin's bedroom at Versailles. Caffieri also produced gilt-bronze cases for clocks, both mantel clocks and the "cartel" clocks that combined clock and bracket in one unified design, to be mounted on a wall. A detailed inventory of the Caffieri workshop made in 1747 enables scholars to identify some unsigned clockcases from the workshop: a fully Rococo cartel clock with a movement by Julien Le Roy is at the Getty Museum: it is inscribed "fait par Caffiery" in a cartouche below the dial. [ [http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=6185 Wall Clock (Getty Museum) ] ]

In 1740, Caffieri's wife purchased a royal privilege,which allowed them to gild bronze as well as cast it within the same workshop; ordinarily the processes were divided between two Parisian "corporations", jealous of their jurisdictions, the "fondeurs-ciseleurs" and the "ciseleurs-doreurs".

His signature incised in gilt-bronze kept his name alive in the nineteenth century [Gilt-bronze objects in Rococo style boldly signed CAFFIERI were made in the nineteenth century; "usually, however, they are not difficult to identify" F.J.B. Watson observed in 1966 (p564).] and gained him an entry in "Encyclopaedia Britannica" 1911, though the extreme Rococo style of which he was a consummate master laid his work open to disapproving commentary. ["Encyclopaedia Britannica" 1911: "Jacques Caffieri"] Two monumental gilt-bronze chandeliers in the Wallace Collection, London [F 83, F 84.] , bear his signature; one of them was a wedding present from Louis XV to Louise-Elisabeth of France in 1739; the other is signed and dated 1751. The famous astronomical clock made by C.-S. Passement and Dauthiau for Louis XV, 1749-1753, is housed in a Rococo case signed by Caffieri. Another clock, with a movement by Balthasar Martinot in an extreme Rococo style gilt-bronze case, belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch, at Boughton House [ [http://www.boughtonhouse.org.uk/htm/tour/stairhall.htm illustration] ] A pair of fire-dogs signed and dated 1752 is in the Cleveland Museum of Art [Severance collection, 72 and 73.] Two large gilt-bronze mirror-frames by Caffieri, to a design by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, were inrtended as a gift to the Sultan of Turkey; the price was an astonishing 24,982 "livres". [Watson 1966, II, p 564.]

He made a great cross and six candlesticks for the high altar of Notre Dame, which disappeared in the French Revolution, but similar work for Bayeux cathedral still exists. A wonderful enamelled toilet set which he executed for the Princess of Asturias has also disappeared.

A few portrait busts by Jacques Caffieri exist, notably of the baron de Besenval (1737) and his son (1735) (Watson 1966).

Jacques Caffiéri was joined in the workshop by his son, the younger Philippe Caffiéri (1714-1774), who also was received as a "maître fondeur-ciseleur" and who sometimes signed his independent works, especially after the death of his father in 1755, P.CAFFIERI. The younger Philippe's style was gradually modified by the new taste for Neoclassicism. Like his father, he drew large sums from the crown, usually after giving many years credit, while many other years were needed by his heirs to get in the balance of the royal indebtedness.

Philippe's younger brother, Jean-Jacques Caffieri (1725-1792), was a sculptor, appointed "sculpteur du Roi" to Louis XV and later afforded lodgings in the Galeries du Louvre. He designed the fine "rampe d'escalier" which still adorns the Palais Royal. He is better known for his portrait busts, in terracotta or marble: his bust of Madame du Barry is at the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. He made a name with his busts of Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine for the foyer of the Comédie Française.

Notes

References

*Francis J.B. Watson, "The Wrightsman Collection" (Metropolitan Museum of Art), 1966, vol. I, no. 217ab, vol. II pp 563f (biography of Jacques Caffiéri).
* [http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=990 (Getty Museum) Jacques Caffiéri]