The Story of Joseph after Lorenzo Ghiberti's “Gates of Paradise, " Florence
View Similar Items
Ferdinand BarbedienneThe Story of Joseph after Lorenzo Ghiberti's “Gates of Paradise, " Florence
About the Item
- Creator:Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810 - 1892, French)
- Dimensions:Height: 27.5 in (69.85 cm)Width: 27.5 in (69.85 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:Old Masters
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1026198492
Ferdinand Barbedienne
Founded by one-time Parisian wallpaper dealer Ferdinand Barbedienne and engineer Achille Collas, one of the most revered foundries in 19th-century France began with the invention of a revolutionary 1830s-era device that could produce proportional reproductions — large or small — of sculptures. Collas’s machine, which yielded miniature likenesses of antiquities for the interiors of homes the world over, was pivotal to the success of the F. Barbedienne Foundry. The successful firm earned prestigious awards and critical acclaim and created exquisite bronze candleholders, clocks and lamps for a range of wealthy and prominent clients.
The duo first launched their company under the name Société Collas et Barbedienne, and early on, they optimized chemical processes for pigmenting and patinating their bronze statuettes. After Collas died in 1859, Barbedienne forged on alone, and the company’s name changed to simply F. Barbedienne.
Barbedienne employed more than 300 workers at that point, and the Maison created a range of furnishings and decorative objects that featured the integration of marble and ormolu accents. However, with the onset of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the foundry was forced to retrofit its molds, and the production of cannons replaced sculptures, furniture and vases.
When Ferdinand Barbedienne passed away in 1891, his nephew and heir, Gustave Leblanc, took over as president, changing the name to Leblanc-Barbedienne. Leblanc expanded production into Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, carrying on the company's legacy with monumental sculptures, and models and securing production rights for famous statues. Paul-Alexandre Dumas, an Art Nouveau maker and student of Louis Majorelle, succeeded Leblanc until the company's closing in 1952.
Barbedienne pieces had been exhibited regularly in the 19th century and were especially prevalent at Europe’s international expositions and world’s fairs, where they received numerous prizes. Today, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris holds dozens of Barbedienne works in its collection, including intricate mirrors, vases and cups created by Louis-Constant Sévin at the foundry. For more than two decades, Sévin created lamps, boxes and more at Maison Barbedienne. Working alongside award-winning chaser Désiré Attarge, Sévin designed Napoleon III-era works that greatly appealed to European nobility.
Other notable artists who collaborated with Barbedienne included Eugene Aizelin, Emmanuel Fremiet, Antonin Mercié, Emile Guillemin, Edouard Lievre, Ferdinand Levillain and Auguste Rodin.
On 1stDibs, find a collection of antique Ferdinand Barbedienne decorative objects, lighting and more.
- The Story of Joseph from the Second Baptistery Doors, Florence (“The Gates of PaBy Ferdinand BarbedienneLocated in New York, NYFerdinand Barbedienne (Saint-Martin-de-Fresnay 1810 – 1892 Paris) after Lorenzo Ghiberti (Florence, 1378 – 1455) Signed at the lower right of the principal relief: F. BARBEDIENNE Provenance: Private Collection, USA. Barbedienne’s “Gates of Paradise” reliefs are one of the triumphs of nineteenth-century bronze casting and patination. The nine panels that comprise our example are half-size reductions of the famous originals by Lorenzo Ghiberti, made for the Baptistery of Florence and now housed in the Museo del Opera del Duomo. Mounted in an impressive, mullioned frame surround, our work is an exceptional exemplar of the Renaissance Revival, the broadly influential style and movement that infused architecture, design, and artistic culture in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The central scene, The Story of Joseph, is perhaps the most celebrated of the entire series depicting as it does seven episodes from the Biblical narrative integrated into a single composition: Joseph cast by his brethren into the well, Joseph sold to the merchants, the merchants delivering Joseph to the pharaoh, Joseph interpreting the pharaoh’s dream, the pharaoh paying him honor, Jacob sending his sons to Egypt, and Joseph recognizes his brothers and returns home. The surrounding reliefs—two vertical figures in niches, two recumbent figures, and four portrait heads in roundels—are as well faithful reductions of Ghiberti’s original bronzes on other parts of the doors. The maker of these casts was the renowned 19th-century French fondeur Ferdinand Barbedienne. Gary Radke has recently written of this great enterprise: “The Parisian bronze caster Ferdinand Barbedienne began making half-sized copies of ancient and Renaissance sculpture in the 1830s. His firm benefitted enormously from the collaboration of Achille Collas, whom Meredith Shedd has shown was one of numerous pioneers in the mechanical reproduction of sculpture. Their competitors largely devoted themselves to reproducing relief sculpture, but Collas devised a process for creating fully three-dimensional copies. A tracing needle, powered by a treadle, moved over the surface of a full-sized plaster cast or bronze of the original and triggered a complementary action in a cutting stylus set over a soft plaster blank…He signed an exclusive contract with Barbedienne on November 29, 1838, and won medals for his inventions in 1839 and 1844. Barbedienne’s half-sized copies of the Gates of Paradise were famous not only for their fidelity to the original, but also for the way their gilding…suggested the glimmering surface that was hidden under centuries of dirt. Some critics even saw Collas’s and Barbedienne’s work as ‘philanthropic, an exemplary adaptation of industry to the requirements of art, the artist, the workers, and the public alike.’ At 25,000 francs, Collas’s and Barbedienne’s reduction of the Gates of Paradise was singularly more expensive than any other item for sale in their shop. All the reliefs, individual statuettes, and busts were cast separately and could be purchased either by the piece or as an ensemble. Fittingly, Barbedienne’s accomplishment earned him the Grand Prix at the 1878 Paris Exposition Universelle, along with numerous other medals.” Three complete examples of the Barbedienne-Ghiberti doors are known. One, first installed in a chapel in the Villa Demidoff of San Donato near Pratolino, was later acquired by William Vanderbilt...Category
Late 19th Century Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsBronze
- Portrait of Ni-PologLocated in New York, NYSigned, dated, and inscribed on the verso: Malvina Hoffman/ Den Pasar/ “Nipolog”-/ © 1932/ Bali Provenance: The artist; her estate. Literature: Mal...Category
1930s Realist Sculptures
MaterialsTerracotta
- Head of a Young African ManLocated in New York, NYProvenance: Private Collection, Spain. This intriguing and enigmatic sculpture depicts the head of a young African man emerging from a circular opening ...Category
Early 1800s Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsTerracotta
- The Three MagiLocated in New York, NYProvenance: Private Collection, Spain. Known as Peruvian alabaster for its translucency and workability, Piedra de Huamanga is a highly prized material from the province of Ayacucho in Peru. In the 17th and 18th centuries, local craftsman in the town of Huamanga began to specialize in the production of small-scale, polychrome religious sculptures made from this distinctive stone. Huamanga sculptures are among the most accomplished examples of carving from the Spanish Americas, where polychrome wood sculpture was a far more common sculptural medium. These works, which were created as independent sculptures or as sculptural groups—such as our three Magi—were intended for ecclesiastical as well as domestics settings. Our three figures likely formed part of a larger Nativity group—a New World variant of the tradition of the Neapolitan Crèche...Category
Late 18th Century Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsAlabaster
- Cuzco School Baptismal DishBy Spanish Colonial (Peruvian)Located in New York, NYProvenance: Manuel Ortíz de Zevallos y García, Peru; and by descent in the family to: Private Collection, New York. This impressive baptismal dish is an example of eighteenth-cent...Category
18th Century Old Masters Sculptures
MaterialsSilver
- Allegory of AbundanceLocated in New York, NYPainted in collaboration with Hendrick van Balen (Antwerp, 1575 – 1632). Provenance: Private Collection, Uruguay, since the 1930s. The eldest son of Jan Br...Category
17th Century Old Masters Paintings
MaterialsCopper
- Winning the Race Galloping Horse and Rider in Bronze by Charles RumseyBy Charles Cary RumseyLocated in Brookville, NYRumsey’s specialties included equestrian sculptures – portraits of polo players and prize horses, as well as of cowboys, cattle and horses as metaphors. He worked principally in bron...Category
1910s American Impressionist Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsBronze
- Sculpture of a Polo Player Harrison Tweed by Charles RumseyBy Charles Cary RumseyLocated in Brookville, NYPolo Pony and Rider Harrison Tweed . Charles Rumsey was an 8 goal polo player with Meadowbrook Polo Club on Long Island NY. He was an avid sportsman, equestrian and artist. His ab...Category
1910s Abstract Impressionist Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsBronze
- "Dear Thedodsia" Bronze Sculpture 13 x 15 x 13 inch Edition 3/8 by Huang YulongBy Huang YulongLocated in Culver City, CA"Dear Thedodsia" Bronze Sculpture 13 x 15 x 13 inch Edition 3/8 by Huang Yulong ABOUT THE ARTIST Huang Yulong was born in 1983 in Anhui Province, China. In 2007 he graduated with a ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsBronze
- "YoBro!! 2" Bronze Sculpture 90" x 20" x 16" inch Edition 3/3 by Huang YulongBy Huang YulongLocated in Culver City, CA"YoBro!! 2" Bronze Sculpture 90" x 20" x 16" inch Edition 3/3 by Huang Yulong YoBro!!2 2015 Bronze sculpture 92 1/2 × 19 7/10 × 15 7/10 in 235 × 50 × 40 cm Edition of 3 + 2AP Wei...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsBronze
- "Back" Bronze sculpture 79" x 79" x 31" inch Edition 4/8 by Huang YulongBy Huang YulongLocated in Culver City, CA"Back" Bronze sculpture 79" x 79" x 31" inch Edition 4/8 by Huang Yulong ABOUT THE ARTIST Huang Yulong was born in 1983 in Anhui Province, China. In 2007 he graduated with a Bachelo...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsBronze
- "Be My Side L 300" Bronze & Aluminum sculpture Edition 3/6 by Huang YulongBy Huang YulongLocated in Culver City, CA"Be My Side L 300" Bronze & Aluminum sculpture Edition 3/6 by Huang Yulong ABOUT THE ARTIST Huang Yulong was born in 1983 in Anhui Province, China. In 2007 he graduated with a Bach...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsMetal, Bronze