Antonin Mercie - Artist Info

About Antonin Mercie

Name variants

Marius Jean Antonin Mercia, Jean Antonin Mercie, Marius Jean Antoine Mercie, A Mercier, Antonin Mercier
  • Biography

    Mercie's sculpture received tremendous public and critical acclaim when it was exhibited in 1874. In his review of the Salon of that year the critic, Jules-Antoine Castagnary observed: "While monachrists quarrel over the debris of our battered fortunes, and our statesman go through their gymnastics and exhibit indifference to everything save their personal ambition, there exists a young sculptor who has undertaken to speak directly to our nation and to console our people." A few years later, an American visitor went so far as to claim: "No effort of French genius since Sedan- no poem, romance, oration, or work of art has given so much solace to the defeated nation as this statue."

    The model earned Mercie a Medal...

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