Design for a Torchère

Jean Jacques François Le Barbier

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This design for a torchère was made by the artist Le Barbier. He is best known for his paintings and illustrations which reflect the political unrest and revolutions in North America and Europe during the final decades of the 18th century. One of his most famous works is without doubt the panel with the Declaration of the rights of men and citizens as it had been decreed by the Assemblée Nationale in 1789 and agreed to by King Louis XVI (Musée Carnavalet, Paris). Like many of his French colleagues Le Barbier was active in various art disciplines however, and he produced multiple designs for the interior, including this elegant design for a torchère. The idea of having human figures - women, cherubs or exotic figures such as Indians or Africans - as a support, holding up a candle or base on top of which a candelabrum could stand, had become particularly popular in the 18th century. Smaller examples were often executed in (partially) gilt bronze while larger pieces could be made in polychrome wood, marble or gesso.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art