Ferdinand Barbedienne

FERDINAND BARBEDIENNE (France, 1810-1892).
"Moiras".
Patinated bronze.
Presents mechanical reduction stamp Achille Collas.
It has seal of Barbediene foundation.
Measurements: 50 x 96 x 36 cm.
French sculpture in patinated bronze, made from the famous original of the sculptures of the Parthenon, this bronze group embodies the best of the neoclassicism of the nineteenth century. The famous 19th century French sculptor and painter Jean-Baptiste Auguste Clesinger modeled this group of two classical reclining female figures in copious draperies on the east pediment of the Parthenon, now in the British Museum. The originals lack heads and arms, so Clesinger took artistic liberty with these features. Scholars believe the figures represent Dione and Aphrodite or a personification of the sea in the lap of the earth. On the base of the sculpture is a mark of the reduction stamp of A. Collas. and the inscription on the bronze F. BARBEDIENNE, FONDEUR PARIS.
This cast was made in collaboration with the prestigious foundry of Ferdinan Barbedienne in the last quarter of the 19th century. Ferdinand Barbedienne was a French cabinetmaker and bronze artist, an exponent of the Second Empire style. He worked for several sculptors, such as Antoine-Louis Barye. In 1839 he partnered with Achille Collas, with whom he set up a bronze factory in Paris, which had up to three hundred workers. In addition to bronze objects, they produced furniture and silver pieces, in an eclectic style ranging from neo-Renaissance to neo-Louis XVI. In 1850 he was commissioned to furnish the Hôtel de Ville in Paris. In 1851 he participated in the Great Exhibition in London with an ebony and bronze bookcase based on models by Ghiberti and Michelangelo. He was also present at the Universal Exhibition of 1862 with a bronze vase with champagne enamels, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In the 1880s he turned his production towards oriental influences, mainly Chinese and Japanese. In 1863 he received the Legion of Honor with the rank of knight, which was elevated to the rank of officer in 1867 and commander in 1874.