REF NO : B43573

Ferdinand Barbedienne

An Important Pair of Patinated Bronze Figural Six-Light Candelabra

France, Circa 1850

£60,000

A Fine and Important Pair of Patinated Bronze Figural Six-Light Candelabra with Rouge Marble Columns on Gilt-Bronze Bases. The stylised bronze male...

Dimensions

Height: 260 cm (103 in)
Width: 70 cm (28 in)
Depth: 57 cm (23 in)
REF NO : B43573

Description

A Fine and Important Pair of Patinated Bronze Figural Six-Light Candelabra with Rouge Marble Columns on Gilt-Bronze Bases.

The stylised bronze male and female figures are seated on a rocky base and each support an ornate gilt-bronze six-light candelabra. The bronzes are most likely cast by Barbedienne.

Date

Circa 1850

Origin

France

Medium

Patinated Bronze

Ferdinand Barbedienne

Ferdinand Barbedienne (6 August 1810 – 21 March 1892) was a French metalworker and manufacturer, who was well known as a bronze founder.

The son of a small farmer from Calvados, he started his career as a dealer in wallpaper in Paris. In 1838 he went into partnership with Achille Collas (1795-1859), who had just invented a machine to create miniature bronze replicas of statues. Together they started a business selling miniatures of antique statues from museums all over Europe, thus democratising art and making it more accessible to households. From 1843 they extended their scope by reproducing the work of living artists and also diversified by making enamelled household objects. With the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870 the firm briefly had to switch to cannon founding owing to the shortage of metals but resumed business afterwards. Following Barbedienne’s death in 1892, he was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery and the firm was carried on by his nephew Gustave Leblanc until 1952.

Among the principal artists reproduced by the firm were Antoine Louis Barye and Auguste Rodin.

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