Antique Bronze Of Vercingetorix With His Son By Emile Laporte 19th C

This is a large French bronze sculpture of Vercingetorix with his son by Emile Laporte (1858 - 1901), circa 1890 in date.

The standing figure of Vercingetorix wearing a winged helmet, with arm raised pointing into the distance, a figure of a of his son at his side, holding an axe in his right hand, raised on a rectangular naturalistically cast base, signed and numbered M585 & Salon Des Beaux Arts, Paris on the base.

Emile Laporte was a French sculptor (1858 Paris to 1907) who attended the Academy in Paris and was a student of Gabriel-Jules Thomas, Augustin Dumont, Jean-Marie Bonnassieux and Louis-Ernest Barrias.

Hi exhibited his work at the Salon of French artists from 1881, his last work exhibited there dates from 1905.

The attention to detail is absolutely fantastic and the sculpture is extremely life-like.

Condition:

In really excellent condition, please see photos for confirmation.

Dimensions in cm:

Height 61 x Width 42 x Depth 35

Dimensions in inches:

Height 2 foot x Width 1 foot, 4 inches x Depth 1 foot, 2 inches

In 53 BC, when Caesar had left for Italy after the summer campaign season, the Gallic tribes rebelled under the leadership of Vercingetorix, who raised an army against the Roman legions still wintering in Gaul. Hearing of the rebellion, Caesar crossed the mountains in the south, digging through snow drifts six feet deep, to rejoin his troops. "The very vigour and speed of his march in such wintry conditions," says Plutarch, "was a sufficient advertisement to the natives that an unconquered and unconquerable army was bearing down upon them" (Life of Julius Caesar, XXVI.3). To deprive the Romans of food and supplies, Vercingetorix had ordered a scorched-earth policy, and all the neighboring villages and farms were burned, "until fires were visible in all directions." But one tribe, already having torched twenty towns in a single day, refused to destroy its capital at Avaricum (Bourges), "almost the finest in Gaul, the chief defense and pride of their state."

Vergingetorix relented and set about to help defend the fortified town, which held a large supply of grain so desperately needed by the Romans. Caesar began a siege that lasted twenty-seven days. It now was early spring 52 BC, and, in spite of incessant rain, two wheeled towers, eighty-feet high, and ramps 330 feet long, over which they could be rolled into place, as well as a high siege terrace, were constructed in less than a month. The Gauls did all they could to counter or destroy the siege works. As the towers increased in height, so the defenders raised their own. They attacked the soldiers at work and tunneled under the terrace to undermine it. As the terrace approached the height of the wall, the defenders became desperate. Caesar writes that "They felt that the fate of Gaul depended entirely on what happened at that moment, and performed before our eyes an exploit so memorable that I felt I must not leave it unrecorded." It was almost midnight when they again had dug under the terrace and set it on fire. Opposite one of the towers, a Gaul was throwing pitch and tallow onto the fire when he was killed by an arrow from a catapult. Another man stepped forward to take his place and he, too, was killed. Another came forward and also was killed. This continued throughout the night until the fire finally was extinguished.

The next day, it began to rain heavily and, as the defenders took shelter, one of the siege towers was moved into position. The Gauls, taken by surprise, were dislodged from the walls and, panicked at the sight of the Romans surrounding them, threw down their weapons and fled. Exasperated at the length and difficulty of the siege, the Romans massacred the inhabitants. No-one was spared, "neither old men nor women nor children. Of the whole populationabout forty thousanda bare eight hundred who

Internal Ref:

A2905

Date of manufacture : 19th Century