Internationale Orden & Militaria

| 473 4698 Nice. He drops out of medical school after a severe illness and visits the École des arts déco- ratifs de Nice, later working in Paris in the art studio of Jules Dalou and Alexandre Falguière. Between 1894 and 1902 he regularly displays his works in the Salon des artistes français, where he receives the Médaille vermeille in 1899. In 1900 he receives an honourable men- tion at the World Fair in Paris. At the beginning of the 20th century he works as professor for sculpture at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts and stages an exhibition at the Madison Square Garden with several portrait busts. In 1910 he returns to Nice as an artist. At the onset of the First World War he serves as an interpreter for the British army in France and receives the Military Cross and the Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur. After the war he designs several monuments and war ceno- taphs, until he suddenly turns blind in 1939. Montaguielli in Paris, one of the leading bronze foundries in France. The Battle of Cambrai inNovember 1917 is con- sidered to be the first big tank offensive in histo- ry. The British hopes to finally soften the front lines by breaking through the German positions and to push back and defeat the German army were however not met. In the morning of 20 No- vember 1917, accompanied by bagpipers of the SeaforthHighlanders, the British army attacked the German front with more than 200 tanks and were able to breach the defences 16 kilometres wide and 9 kilometres deep, but were however unable to capture the strategically important hill near Bourion. In the evening they had lost 49 tanks, 40 tanks were disabled due to damaged tracks, and others were severely damaged. The attacks on the following days led to minor British victories, but the advance was stopped. In this battle a total of 476 Mark IV tanks of the 1,220 produced tanks of this type were used. This sculpture “The Spirit of Humanity” was originally planned as a 16 meter tall memorial for the First World War to commemorate the Battle of Cambrai and the cooperation of French and British troops and was supposed to be erected in the centre of London. To finance this project, 20 copies of the present version were to be produced and sold for 100 guineas a piece (about 105 British pounds). The sculpture was presented at an exhibition in November 1920 in the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall, London. It remains to be questionable if all 20 copies were realised, especially due to the expensive manufacture by means of lost-wax casting. As far as we know there are only three copies exist- ent worldwide, one is housed in the National Army Museum in London and another one in the Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset. 252587 I - II € 22.500