After the exhibition, Galle wrote to the government of King Louis XVIII offering the works for sale and providing detailed descriptions of each. These included a chandelier of the same design as the one now at the Getty:
Fish chandelier. In the middle of a blue enameled globe scattered with stars is a circle with the signs of the zodiac and six griffins carrying candles…[Below is a glass bowl fitted with] a plug intended for the removal of the water, which one places in the bowl with small goldfish whose continuous movement will give agreeable recreation to the eye.
Galle was not successful in this appeal and struggled financially throughout his career. Despite that, he continued producing high-quality objects in gilt bronze and was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1823.
The exhibitions of the products of French industry held in Paris during the first half of the 1800s were intended to unite art and industry in the pursuit of progress and modernity. The 1819 exhibition was the first to take place in the Louvre palace. It included 1,662 exhibitors and ran for 35 days. A contemporary album illustrates a small selection of the items displayed in that show, including the elements for an elaborate gilt-bronze centerpiece by Galle that received particular praise from exhibition jurors.
Galle’s design reflects the influence of prominent designers of the early 1800s, which spread widely thanks to portable prints and design books. As seen in the Galle chandelier, the fashion was to adapt motifs found in ancient art and architecture to new furniture forms.
The French design partners Percier and Fontaine wrote that they regarded models from classical antiquity as examples “not to be followed blindly but in keeping with modern customs, usage, and materials.” They were the leading designers under Napoleon I, known particularly for their publication Collection of Interior Decoration, a suite of prints begun in 1801 that dominated the Parisian scene for the next twenty years. Included in that work is a design for a chandelier that has candle supports in the form of griffins, suggesting a possible source for the similar element on Galle’s chandelier.
The Galle chandelier also embodies a standard noted by the English author and furniture designer Thomas Hope, whose influential book Household Furniture and Interior Decoration was first published in 1807. Hope wrote that while a design’s primary purposes should be function and comfort, it may also include attributes of elegance and beauty that “enable its shape and accessories to afford additional gratification, both to the eye and to the imagination.” The book includes an illustration for a chandelier of bronze and gold that may also have inspired Galle when he made similar griffin figures for his own chandelier.
Light and Celebration
In our brightly electrified world, it is difficult to understand how important candleholders were to the furnishing of a room. They were not just decorative but provided an essential function to light the hours after daylight.
In France during the early 1800s, the most prestigious types of candles were made of beeswax that had been carefully filtered and bleached in sunlight to obtain a pure white color. Such candles were expensive, so it is not surprising that lighting fixtures were sometimes made of costly materials where elements like bright gilding and glass drops would enhance the sparkle of the candlelight.
Given the costly nature of candles and the fact that goldfish would not be able to survive for long periods in the suspended bowl (they would need to be transferred to and from a more hospitable environment such as a tank or pond), the Galle chandelier was not meant for everyday use. It would only be fully lit and occupied with fish on special occasions, providing a novel showpiece for visitors.
The performative nature of lighting is something we all still enjoy at special events and installations that evoke celebration. The sense of spectacle and entertainment was also an important element of the early hot-air balloon flights. They were regarded with particular pride by the French, who had pioneered this type of aeronautics, and were often included as prominent aspects of civic festivals.
A print from the time shows a striking example of dramatic lighting combined with a hot-air-balloon display to provide special meaning and atmosphere to a contemporary event. The scene depicts an evening party at the Paris home and garden of General Berthier, minister of war, in 1801 to mark the peace between the French Republic, the Holy Roman Emperor, and the German people. Strategically placed fires and lights illuminate the façade of the house, the garden sculpture, and the base of the balloon that bears the message “A LA PAIX” (for peace) on the basket.
The Galle chandelier achieves a similar result. It is an object of wonder that conveys a celebratory sense of creation and aspiration through a form and decorations that reference light, flight, and the universal elements of nature. The unique harmonious design evokes the past and the future while providing stimulation for the eyes and the imagination of all who see it.
