Ernesta Robert-Mérignac

Frenchwoman Ernesta Robert-Mérignac was a sculptor and a contemporary and pupil of Geneviève Granger, Mademoiselle Darbefeuille, and Récipon. She exhibited four plaquettes in 1905 at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français and several medals in 1906. Robert-Mérignac was the daughter of one fencing master (Charles Gustave Robert) and the wife of another (Émile Mérignac). Her nephew was fencer Lucien Mérignac, who won the gold medal in the 1900 Olympic Foil Masters event.

The Fencing Salute and The Fencing Lesson were submitted as “bas-reliefs made of bronze on oak”, The Épée Salute under Louis XV as “marble bas-relief on antique green marble”. Of the medals and plaques are mentioned: Beautiful Poses of the French Fencing, Epée attack, Saber Attack and Fencer. Different years are given for their creation, but they were already exhibited or for sale between 1907 and 1922. Sizes are different: the height of the plaques, where known, between 42 and 90 mm, and the width between 74 and 135 mm.