Terminal clock Restoration gilded bronze Bélisaire Baron Gérard palmette 19th century
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Bronze terminal clock with two patinas (golden and brown) decorated with a representation of Bélisaire* carrying his guide (according to the painting by Baron Gérard**), dial chiseled with large palmettes, and border of the clock decorated with friezes of pearls, eggs and stylized foliage, from the 19th century Restoration period.
This clock is in good condition. It works but may need to be serviced. We have the key and the pendulum (brought back).
Belisarius carrying his guide bitten by a snake: presented at the Salon of 1795 and lost today, this painting nevertheless survives through a reduction of 1797, perhaps in the hand of Gérard himself, preserved at the Getty Museum. Taking up a subject treated by David, Gérard's master, the painting was interpreted as a metaphor for the return of immigrants from the Revolution after the fall of Robespierre. An engraving was made in 1806 by Auguste Boucher-Desnoyers.
Please note: wear of the bronze patina, slight wear on the dial, dirt and wear over time, see photos.
born around the year 500 in Macedonia, on the borders of Illyria and Thrace, and died in 565 in Constantinople, was an Eastern Roman general. Often victorious, he is sometimes considered the last great Roman general. Through his successes, he contributed greatly to the reconquests of the Eastern Roman Empire desired by Emperor Justinian, under whose reign he spent the majority of his career. During his life, Belisarius was Justinian's greatest general but later fell out of favor with Justinian.
also called Baron Gérard, is a French history painter, portraitist and neo-classical illustrator. A student of Jacques-Louis David, he was one of the main painters of the First Empire and the Restoration. Court painter under Napoleon I, then First Painter to Kings Louis XVIII and Charles X, Gérard enjoyed great fame, not only French, but also European. Nicknamed “the painter of kings, the king of painters”, he was in fact the portraitist of all European sovereign families. His salon, one of the most famous of its time, welcomed the greatest personalities.