Boduognatus (or Indutiomarus) & Ambiorix at Antwerp's Porte du Chemin de Fer by Pierre Armand Cattier & Antoine-Félix Bouré 1866

August 01, 2020

Boduognatus (or Indutiomarus) & Ambiorix at Antwerp's Porte du Chemin de Fer by Pierre Armand Cattier & Antoine-Félix Bouré 1866

"A few steps from the equestrian statue of King Leopold I, stands in the Belgian part of the Park a freestone gate crowned with two gigantic bronze figures. This low, massive door is not a triumphal arch, but rather a postern. We feel that for it to have its true character, all it needs is a drawbridge, stapled to its sides by strong chains. The dark giants seated on each of its pillars, half reclining on its hanger, are gentle sentries at rest, two Gauls from the year 57 BC, at the time of the great struggles of Belgium against Caesar and his legionaries. Shirtless, hair blowing in the wind, uncultivated and thick as a mane, spear in hand, stone ax by side, these companions of Indutiomar and Ambiorix represent us well these barbarian warriors who used to strip themselves before launching themselves in the melee; keeping only the helmet and the sword, they swooped down on the enemy cohorts head first, piercing the lines where they fell, and shaking in action, like clusters of pygmies, those enraged little Roman soldiers who did not come to them. not on the shoulder."

-Universal Exhibition of Paris 1867 (April 1, 1867 - November 3, 1867): New gate of the citadel of Antwerp

...

"Statue of Boduognat by Pierre-Armand Cattier on the left
Boduognat is shown half-seated, half-lying, leaning with the left arm against the pediment, bringing the left hand towards the head with a meditative air, while the right arm rests on the right knee, the right hand holding a spear pointing to the ground. Boduognat is represented naked, with the skin of an animal (lion, wolf?) Casually tied around the neck. A sort of draping (or is it the same skin?), Which we do not really know where it would be attached, meticulously covers his sex. His male appearance is emphasized by a thick mustache.

Statue of Ambiorix by Antoine-Félix Bouré on the right
Ambiorix is arranged in the same way, but adopts a more tense attitude. He brings both arms back to the left knee, both hands leaning on a primitive-looking ax. In his back hangs a quiver filled with fletched arrows, the strap of which is passed around the right shoulder. Ambiorix is also shown naked, with the skin of an animal faded over the head, which emerges from the mouth of the animal (a lion rather than a wolf), the skin falling or doubled by a sheet to cover its sex . The man is not only mustache, but also bearded.
They are indeed colossi, with a height, from the head to the foot of the hanging leg, of about five and a half meters, and a width, for Boduognat, from the hand to the elbow, of about nearly five meters, and for Ambiorix, from the hand to the quiver, about four meters. They were made of bronzed zinc.

The large bronzed zinc statues of the Porte du Chemin de Fer and the Porte de Malines will be produced by the Compagnie du Zinc et du Bronze et des Equipements d'Éclairage - which will become the famous Compagnie des Bronzes.

Sources: The Porte du Chemin de Fer in Antwerp. Ambiorix and Boduognat: "the last bulwark of Belgian nationality" by Eugène WARMENBOL."