Victor Paillard

VICTOR PAILLARD (1805-1886) ; France, second third of the 19th century.
"Borghese centaur".
Silver-plated bronze.
Signed "Victor Pallard l d'après l'antique.
Measurements: 106 x 77 x 40 cm.
Sculpture realized in silver-plated bronze whose design is based on the work that was discovered in the Monte Celio, one of the seven hills of Rome. The original was restored by Nicolas Cordelier, who added the base with a lizard and a snake as part of the composition, resources that have preserved the present sculpture. The sculpture became so popular that Louis XIV received a copy and it was later acquired by Napoleon Bonaparte when he bought the Borghese collection and is now part of the collection of the Louvre Museum. In the sculpture the centaur is accompanied by Eros who is arranged on his back, although the crown of branches refers to a Bacchic identity.
The piece is signed by Victor Paillar, pupil of Jean-François Denière and collaborator of Ferdinand Barbedienne. He creates in 1830 a house of objets d'art and furniture which will undertake with purposes to a hundred people in the middle of the century. He gathers many official commanders, especially during the decoration of the Palau d'Afers Exteriors on the Quai d'Orsay. He exhibited in France and abroad, was appointed a member of the jury of the Paris World's Fair of 1855, and competed there.