Getty Museum
Chandelier
Creator
Gérard Jean GalleFrench Artist · 1788–1846
All works by this person →Although he won several awards for his cast and gilded bronze works, Gérard-Jean Galle never prospered. Born into a family of casters and gilders, he probably received his training in the workshop of his father, Claude Galle, also a bronze caster, who produced objects for Marie-Antoinette. Upon the death of his father in 1815, Galle took over the family workshop. During this period of political up
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1818–1819
- Medium
- Gilt bronze; glass; painted copper; gilt tin; iron armature
- Culture
- French
- Department
- Decorative Arts
- Institution
- Getty Museum
A hot-air balloon inspired the design of this fanciful chandelier with its blue globe strewn with stars above a glass bowl. The twelve signs of the zodiac wrap around the globe on a gilt-bronze band. The maker, Gérard Jean Galle, fitted the bowl with a plug and explained that it could hold water and small goldfish, “whose continuous movement will give agreeable recreation to the eye.” When he exhibited a chandelier of this design in 1819, Galle described it as a *lustre à poisson* (fish chandelier).
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