Emmanuel Fremiet, Saint Michel Slaying the Dragon, Bronze

Sculpture in bronze with brown patina "Saint Michel slaying the dragon" after the original by Emmanuel Fremiet. It represents the winged Saint raising his sword in the air to bring it down on the dragon which climbs on the pedestal of the statue. He is dressed in armour with a coat of mail, a bulging helmet and a tunic floating around him. In his left hand, he holds a small shield with a point. His head is surrounded by a halo. This very detailed work shows great chiselling. The whole rests on a pedestal in Marble. Model in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Emmanuel Fremiet was a famous 19th century sculptor, particularly since the installation of his Joan of Arc in the Place des Pyramides in Paris in 1874. He founded a new "historical realism" combining great meticulousness and a true archaeological quest, describing in detail iconographic subjects from the Middle Ages. In 1894, he was chosen to create the statue that was to crown the spire of the abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel. It was his 50cm statuette representing Saint-Michel, made in 1879 for commercial purposes, that was selected by the architect to be enlarged to 2.20m in height. His aesthetic approach combined with his "historical realism" fitted in perfectly with Viollet-Le-Duc's new vision of historical monuments, in search of architectural reconstructions.