Pair of Louis Seize Fire Gilded Candlesticks France 1800 by F. Barbedienne
Pair of strict classicistical fire gilded candlesticks France 1840, signed Barbedienne.
Strict classicist design with square base, flowers and leaf ornaments in different finish. Decorated and smooth elements in alternation create otically balanced object.
The widest part of the stem is 4.0cm
Ferdinand Barbedienne (* August 6, 1810 in Saint-Martin-de-Fresnay, Calvados department, France; † March 21, 1892 in Paris) was a French sculptor, bronze ware manufacturer, and gallery owner. One of the most important and popular Éditeurs d'art, or publishers of art articles, he had most of the French sculptors of his time under contract.
Life and work
Ferdinand Barbedienne was the son of a farmer. At the age of 13, he learned the Craft of saddlery.
In 1822 he moved to Paris, where he first worked as a clerk in a wallpaper shop. He received start-up capital from his employer to open his own store, which he set up on Rue Notre-Dame-de-Lorette in 1834. He pursued the idea of exhibiting bronze statues in addition to his core business and mass producing them in small format.
In 1838, he joined forces with the mechanic Achille Collas, who had developed the machine á reduction (réducteur for short); a device based on the principles of the pantograph that could reproduce three-dimensional objects in any size - reduced or enlarged. On November 29, 1838, both signed the founding contract for the company Société Ferdinand Barbedienne et Achille Collas, which aimed to commercially exploit the mechanized production of sculptural works for an initial 20 years. Barbedienne took care of the commercial management of the company, while Collas contributed the patent on his invention and seven existing machines, and with his profound knowledge of machinery was responsible for the production processes. Together they decided on the subject matter of the objects, the selling prices, and all other financial matters.
In 1841, they produced casts of the Apollo of Belvedere, the Spinario, and 21 pieces with the motif of a bas-relief of the Parthenon. These were followed by versions of the Laocoon group, the Venus of Arles, and the Borghese Fencer, among others. Special interest was initially shown in works from antiquity, for which casts from the Atelier de Moulage in the Louvre served as models. The company continued to produce works by representatives of the Renaissance such as Michelangelo, Donatello, Giovanni Bologna or by French sculptors such as Jean Goujon, Jean-François Flamand, Pierre Puget, François Girardon, Antoine Coysevox...
Category
Late 18th Century Louis XVI Antique French Candlesticks
