Achille Collas

Bust of Achille Collas (Image from Harper's Magazine )

Achille Collas (born February 25, 1795 in Paris ; † June 6, 1859 there ) was a French engraver , engraver and mechanic .

Life

Collas' machine à reduction or pantograph

Born on February 25, 1795 in Paris, Collas first learned the craft of watchmaker and made tools for watches. However, he was interested in modern engraving methods and soon made a name for himself through his inventions in this field. At the age of 27, Collas invented a machine that enabled the mass production of brooches and medallions. This invention was followed in 1825 by a machine that could engrave copperplate engravings with a neutral or primed background, and in 1826 by an apparatus that was also suitable for engraving colorful, iridescent buttons. In addition, Collas developed several surgical instruments, machines for punching and a cylinder for mechanical cloth printing.

The so-called "Collas manner", which made it possible to copy reliefs by machine, also goes back to Collas. A vertical pen moves over the heights and depths of the relief to be copied and, through its movement, controls a second pen connected to the first, which copies the relief. However, Collas cannot be considered the inventor of this technique, as it had been in use in London since 1803, albeit in a less precise form. Collas subjected the system to an extensive revision, which he completed around 1831 and finally presented at the Salon de Paris in 1833 .

From 1835 Collas began to work on a machine that could reproduce three-dimensional objects in any desired size. His method, which is based on the theorem of rays , enables the original to be reduced or enlarged to scale. In order to be able to enlarge a model, individual parts of it were copied in plaster and used as a template. The enlarged individual parts were then put back together to form a whole. On March 22, 1837, Collas applied for a patent for his invention .

About a year later, the inventor teamed up with Ferdinand Baroperne , who also offered bronze statuettes in his shop near the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette church and was aiming for serial production of them. On November 29, 1838, the founding agreement of the Société Ferdinand Baroperne et Achille Collas was signed . In the contract, initially limited to twenty years, it was agreed that Barbetriebne would take over commercial management and Collas would supervise production. Together, the business partners made the selection of the topics for which the sculptures were produced and set the sales price. With the help of the machine à reduction (abbreviated: réducteur ) invented by Collas , the two made a copy of Venus de Milo reduced to 90 cm , which they presented to the public in 1839. In the years that followed, Collas and Barregelne focused on reproductions of ancient works of art and sold copies of the Belvedere torso , the Thorn Extractor , the Laocoon Group , the Venus of Arles and the Borghese Fencer, and 21 bas-reliefs from the Parthenon . When making the copies, Collas used the casts of the works of art in the Atelier de Moulage of the Louvre .

The demand for the so-called bronzes d'art rose sharply and, in addition to works of art from the Renaissance , reproductions of works by contemporary artists, such as the winners of the Prix de Rome or recipients of the Cross of the Legion of Honor , were increasingly in demand.

After Achille Collas died in Paris on June 6, 1859, Baroperne continued to run the company, which now had 300 workers and was considered the most progressive atelier for the production of bronze castings, on his own.

Fonts (selection)

with Paul Delaroche : Trésor de numismatique et de glyptique, ou Recueil général de médailles, monnaies, pierres gravées, bas-reliefs, etc. tant anciens que modern, les plus intéressants sous le rapport de l'art et de l'histoire. In twelve volumes. Paris 1834.
with Edward Edwards : The Napoleon medals. A complete series of the medals struck in France, Italy, Great Britain and Germany, from the commencement of the empire in 1804, to the restoration in 1815. London: Hering 1837.
with Henry F. Chorley: The Authors of England. A Series of Medallion Portraits of Modern Literary Characters, engraved from the works of British artists. With illustrative notices by Henry F. Chorley. London: Charles Tilt 1838. ( digitized version )

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Charles Knight: Collas, Achille . In: Charles Knight (Ed.): Biography or Third Division of “The English Cyclopedia”. Supplement . Bradbury, Evans & Co., London 1872, Sp. 397 (English, google.at ).
↑ ^a ^b Joseph George Reinis: The Portrait Medallions of David D'Angers. An Illustrated Catalog of David's Contemporary and Retrospective Portraits in bronze . With a preface by Isabelle Leroy-Jay Lemaistre. Polymath Press, New York 1999, pp. 112 (English, google.at ).
↑ Charles Knight: Collas, Achille . In: Charles Knight (Ed.): Biography or Third Division of “The English Cyclopedia” . Supplement. Bradbury, Evans & Co., London 1872, Sp. 397–398 (English, google.at ).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Isabel Hufschmidt: The small sculptures by James Pradier. Sculpture in the industrialized art business of the 19th century . Dissertation to obtain a doctorate. ibidem Verlag, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-8382-6010-5 , p. 53 ( google.at ).
↑ ^a ^b ^c Collas manner . In: General German Real Encyclopedia for the educated classes . Conversations lexicon in fifteen volumes. 10th edition. Fourth volume: Cevennes to Germany. FA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1852, p. 283 ( google.at ).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Isabel Hufschmidt: The small sculptures by James Pradier. Sculpture in the industrialized art business of the 19th century . Dissertation to obtain a doctorate. ibidem Verlag, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-8382-6010-5 , p. 54 ( google.at ).
↑ Isabel Hufschmidt: The small sculptures by James Pradier. Sculpture in the industrialized art business of the 19th century . Dissertation to obtain a doctorate. ibidem Verlag, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-8382-6010-5 , p. 56 ( google.at ).

personal data
SURNAME	Collas, Achille
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French engraver and mechanic
DATE OF BIRTH	February 25, 1795
PLACE OF BIRTH	Paris
DATE OF DEATH	June 6, 1859
Place of death	Paris

[:0-1] Charles Knight: Collas, Achille . In: Charles Knight (Ed.): Biography or Third Division of “The English Cyclopedia”. Supplement . Bradbury, Evans & Co., London 1872, Sp. 397 (English, google.at ).

[:1-2] Joseph George Reinis: The Portrait Medallions of David D'Angers. An Illustrated Catalog of David's Contemporary and Retrospective Portraits in bronze . With a preface by Isabelle Leroy-Jay Lemaistre. Polymath Press, New York 1999, pp. 112 (English, google.at ).

[3] Charles Knight: Collas, Achille . In: Charles Knight (Ed.): Biography or Third Division of “The English Cyclopedia” . Supplement. Bradbury, Evans & Co., London 1872, Sp. 397–398 (English, google.at ).

[:3-4] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Isabel Hufschmidt: The small sculptures by James Pradier. Sculpture in the industrialized art business of the 19th century . Dissertation to obtain a doctorate. ibidem Verlag, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-8382-6010-5 , p. 53 ( google.at ).

[:2-5] Collas manner . In: General German Real Encyclopedia for the educated classes . Conversations lexicon in fifteen volumes. 10th edition. Fourth volume: Cevennes to Germany. FA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1852, p. 283 ( google.at ).

[:4-6] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Isabel Hufschmidt: The small sculptures by James Pradier. Sculpture in the industrialized art business of the 19th century . Dissertation to obtain a doctorate. ibidem Verlag, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-8382-6010-5 , p. 54 ( google.at ).

[7] Isabel Hufschmidt: The small sculptures by James Pradier. Sculpture in the industrialized art business of the 19th century . Dissertation to obtain a doctorate. ibidem Verlag, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-8382-6010-5 , p. 56 ( google.at ).