8 April 2025
Joy McCall
The crucifixes by René Lalique in our May 2025 auction were designed between 1930 and 1943 and belong to a period when Lalique was undertaking ecclesiastical work.
The earliest example here, designed in 1930, was used as the design for René Lalique’s grave in the cemetery of Père Lachaise, in Paris. Lalique’s religious works are predated by the sculptor Paul Landowski’s work on the monumental Christ the Redeemer, in Rio de Janeiro, begun in 1922 and opened in 1931.
Join Head of Sale for Lalique Joy McCall as she discusses the crucifixes designed by René Lalique that featured in our May 2025 auction.
100 years ago, in 1925 Lalique began his first church commission for Saint Nicaise, in Reimes. The project was initially for a window featuring three angels. This work started during the hugely significant Paris Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes, in which René Lalique took a leading role. At the exhibition he used clear and frosted glass to create impressive architectural and sculptural features. He displayed his work in numerous contexts meaning that his presence in the exhibition was everywhere.
Subsequently he worked on two other churches one in 1930, the Chapel of the Virgin Faithful to Deliverance in Calvados in north-west France. The other, St Matthew’s in St Helier, Jersey, in 1932, is known as the glass church. This was a commission from Florence, Lady Trent to commemorate her husband Jesse, 1st Baron Trent of Nottingham and the owner of Boots Chemist.