Sevin Louis

Louis-Constant Sévin learned drawing and sculpture from Marneuf, a sculptor of ornaments for the monuments of Paris. In 1839, he joined forces with the sculptors Phénix and Joyau, and as a designer created goldsmith’s objects for renowned houses such as Denière, Froment-Meurice and Morel.

During the Revolution of 1848, C. Sévin joined Morel in London and created pieces for him which were then exhibited at the Universal Exhibition of 1851. Returning to France, C. Sévin participated in the Universal Exhibition of 1855, for having designed porcelain models for Jouhanneaud and Dubois de Limoges. It was from this date that Constant Sévin worked for the famous bronzier Ferdinand Barbedienne, who appointed him head of his decorators. C. Sévin’s work is considerable. Among his two thousand listed drawings, he produced those intended for the furnishing bronzes of the Hôtel de La Païva on the Champs-Elysées. His talent was then recognized and at the London Exhibition in 1862 he received a medal “for the artistic excellence of the furniture he designed and which is exhibited by Barbedienne”.

A gold medal as a cooperator was also awarded to him at the exhibition of the Central Union of Decorative Arts in 1863. F. Barbedienne said that posterity will remember the compositions of Constant Sévin. The most extraordinary object created by C. Sévin for F. Barbedienne, was a monumental clock in gilded bronze of Renaissance style, four meters high, which won a gold medal and the legion of honor to its creator at the Universal Exhibition of 1878 in Paris. This undeniable triumph continued at the Universal Exhibition of 1889.