A. A. Hébrard, an art dealer and promoter, launched a foundry in 1902 in Paris staffed with Italian craftsmen including the Valsuani family. The artist, Rembrandt Bugatti, encouraged Claude Valsuani to leave Hébrard to open his own foundry. Claude Valsuani is thought to have been the first in France to employ a torch for patination, and the dark patina called, “Valsuani Noir.”

From the exhibition:Frontier to Foundry: the Making of Small Bronze Sculpture in the Gilcrease Collection, December 2014 - March 2015.
Ann Boulton Young, Associate Conservator for the Gilcrease Museum, 2014.