The Valsuani foundry was started by the brothers Claude and Attilio Valsuani who learned the foundry trade while employed at the Hebard foundry. While working for Hebard, Claude Valsuani showed great promise as a finisher and eventually worked his way up to become the Technical Director of the Hebard foundry. In 1899 Claude Valsuani started his own foundry in Chatillon, casting mostly small works for various artists primarily using the lost wax technique of casting (cire perdue). In 1905 he moved his foundry to 74 Rue des Plantes in Paris. Among the better known sculptors who had the Valsuani foundry cast their works were: Renoir, Picasso Despiau, Paul Troubetzkoy, Matisse, and Gaugin. Claude Valsuani died in 1923 in his native Italy but his son, Marcele took over the running of the foundry and continued to produce extremely fine detailed bronzes until the 1970's. Back to Previous Page |