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Ferdinand Barbedienne Art

French, 1810-1892

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 candleholdersclocks 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 sculpturesfurniture 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 AizelinEmmanuel FremietAntonin MerciéEmile GuilleminEdouard LievreFerdinand Levillain and Auguste Rodin.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of antique Ferdinand Barbedienne decorative objects, lighting and more.

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Artist: Ferdinand Barbedienne
A Monumental Patinated Bronze Bust of Jesus Christ by Clesinger and Barbedienne
By Ferdinand Barbedienne
Located in Queens, NY
A Monumental and Truly Exceptional French Patinated Bronze Bust of Jesus Christ, Circa 1858, Signed J. Clesinger, Rome 1858 & F. Barbedienne Fondeur This monumental and extraordinar...
Category

19th Century Ferdinand Barbedienne Art

Materials

Bronze

An Important Pair of Monumental Parcel-Gilt and Patinated Bronze Figural Torchèr
By Ferdinand Barbedienne
Located in New York, NY
Mounted as lamps and cast by Ferdinand Barbedienne after models by Alexandre Falguiere and Paul Dubois. Both statues are signed on the bases. These fine torchères are reductions of...
Category

Late 19th Century Renaissance Ferdinand Barbedienne Art

Materials

Bronze

The Story of Joseph from the Second Baptistery Doors, Florence (“The Gates of Pa
By Ferdinand Barbedienne
Located in New York, NY
Ferdinand 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 Ferdinand Barbedienne Art

Materials

Bronze

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Wrestlers. Patinated bronze, h 39 cm + 4 cm pedestal, w 46 cm l 27 cm Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810–1892)
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The Story of Joseph after Lorenzo Ghiberti's “Gates of Paradise, " Florence
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Ferdinand Barbedienne (Saint-Martin-de-Fresnay 1810 – 1892 Paris) after Lorenzo Ghiberti (Florence, 1378 – 1455) The Story of Joseph from the Second Baptistery Doors, Florence (“The Gates of Paradise”) Signed at the lower right of the principal relief: F. BARBEDIENNE FONDEUR Nine bronze reliefs set into a wooden frame 27 ½ x 27 ½ inches (70 x 70 cm) The present work is a half-size reduction of nine panels from the famous Gates of Paradise by Lorenzo Ghiberti, made for the Baptistery of Florence and now housed in the Museo del Opera del Duomo. The central scene is one of the most remarkable, The Story of Joseph, comprised of seven episodes from the Biblical narrative integrated into one 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.” Only two 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...
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Emile Guillemin Bronze Sculpture Torchiere Lamp "Femme Indienne" Barbedienne
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Ferdinand Barbedienne art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Ferdinand Barbedienne art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Ferdinand Barbedienne in bronze, metal and more. Not every interior allows for large Ferdinand Barbedienne art, so small editions measuring 8 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Aimé-Jules Dalou, and Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse. Ferdinand Barbedienne art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $3,450 and tops out at $95,000, while the average work can sell for $30,220.

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