Ad Lumen - Émile Louis PICAULT (1833-1915)

Impressive antique bronze sculpture titled “Ad Lumen” by Émile Louis Picault. It shows a classical male figure astride a sphere pointing to the heavens. Also he carries a book and a quill pen in his hand. The inscription on the sphere reads “Ad Lumen”. It rests on a square base, signed “E.PICAULT”. Further, this base also caries the foundry mark Jollet – Colin Paris.

This French bronze sculpture has a very beautiful patina with subtle tones of brown.

The Latin inscription “Ad Lumen” can be translated as “Towards the Light”. In the combination with the book and quill pen, we believe this symbolism can be related to the French “Age of Enlightenment”. This was in the 18th century when France enlightened the intellectual world in Europe with its new philosophical ideas. This movement came from some great thinkers under Louis XV and Louis XVI (1754-1793): Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot and the Encyclopaedists, J.J. Rousseau and Buffon.


ÉMILE LOUIS PICAULT (1833 – 1915)
Émile Louis Picault was a French sculptor, best known for works depicting allegorical and patriotic subjects, and mythological heroes. Picault was a very prolific artist, with a long sculpting career. He trained with the painter Henri Royer. Later he began to show his artwork at the Salon in Paris beginning in 1863. His abundant work, consisting mainly of allegorical subjects or taken from mythology, is present in many French museums.


COMPARATIVE REFERENCES
Émile-Louis Picault, Ad Lumen, 1890, bronze, foundry Émile Colin & Cie, La Rochelle, Musée d’Orbigny-Bernon, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de la Rochelle, inv MAH.1934.1. 2.