Marcel Wolfers

MARCEL WOLFERS (Belgium, 1886-1976)
"Bust of Roger de la Pasture".
Bronze.
Attached study issued by Professor Werner Adriaenssens.
Signed.
Provenance. 1939: collection of Count Adrien van der Burch. Before 1976-2017: collection of Marcel Wolfers and Clairette Petrucci (by descent). 2017-2022: private collection.
Measurements: 54.5 cm (height); 8 x 40 x 30 cm (base).
This sculpture, recorded as Buste de Roger in Marcel Wolfers' autograph inventory, is a unique example made in lacquered bronze using the lost wax technique and dated 1932. The work was sold in 1939 by the artist himself to Count Adrien van der Burch for 1,000 francs, and later, probably after the death of the Count in 1954, it was repurchased by Wolfers and his wife. The original plaster model is preserved in the Musées royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, where it is registered under inventory number Sc. 156.2.
The bust is part of the monumental ensemble dedicated to Roger de le Pasture, an initiative promoted by the historian, art critic and politician Jules Destrée, a close friend of the sculptor. For its conception, Wolfers was inspired by the painting Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin, preserved in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, a work in which the figure of Saint Luke has been identified as a possible self-portrait of Roger de le Pasture. By transferring this motif to the three-dimensional realm, the artist introduced a greater dynamization of the composition, placing the Virgin on a pedestal and conceiving from the beginning a polychrome by means of lacquer that would bring vitality to the whole.
The monument was presented at the 1935 Brussels Universal Exhibition on the initiative of Count van der Burch himself, who was the general commissioner. It was installed in front of the complex of the great palaces of the Heysel, and is now preserved in the town hall of Laeken, while a second version, commissioned in 1936, is in front of the cathedral of Tournai, but with the original lacquer replaced.
The Bust of Roger was one of the first parts of the monument executed full-scale in lacquered bronze. It was presented at the end of 1932 in a solo exhibition by Wolfers at the Brussels gallery Nos Peintres, where it was offered for sale for 4,000 francs. The reduced price of 1,000 francs at its subsequent sale to the Count is explained by the close ties of friendship between the two, which dated back to Philippe Wolfers, the sculptor's father.
From the formal point of view, the work reflects the unique synthesis that Wolfers achieved between sculpture and decorative arts, especially through the use of lacquer, an unusual technique in sculptural bronze. This treatment gives the surface a particular chromatic and luminous quality, emphasizing the volumes and giving the bust a refined and modern presence. In this sense, the piece not only dialogues with the historical tradition it evokes, but also fits in with the aesthetic quests of the first third of the 20th century, where material experimentation and the reinterpretation of ancient models take on a central role.
The career of Marcel Wolfers, heir to a prominent family of artists and craftsmen, is characterized precisely by this ability to integrate disciplines, goldsmithing, sculpture and decorative arts, in a coherent and personal language. Roger's Bust is thus presented as a key work in his production, both for its historical dimension and for its technical quality and careful workmanship.