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Exceptional 19th Century Bronze Entitled ““Quand Meme” by Mercié and Barbedienne

About the Item

A Large and Exceptional Late 19th Century Patinated Bronze Figural Group Entitled “Quand Meme” by Mercié and Barbedienne on Pedestal Marius-Jean-Antonin Mercié and Ferdinand Barbedienne Intended to pay tribute to the resistance of the city of Belfort during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the group features two characters, a wounded soldier and a woman in Alsatian costume who personalize the city of Belfort, the Republic and to France. While the wounded soldier is about to succumb, the woman takes her Chassepot rifle from him and gazing deliberately towards the horizon seems to defy the enemy Signed A. Mercie to the front plaque and F. Barbedienne Fondeur Paris to the base. After the success of his celebrated bronze group Gloria Victis at the Salon of 1874, Mercié’s best known work was the present allegorical group Quand Même, which was erected in 1884 on the place d’ Armes in Belfort, in commemoration of the courage of the citizens of the town during the Prussian invasion of 1870. The original full-size plaster model was exhibited at the Salon in 1884 and due to its tremendous popularity, was subsequently cast in bronze in four sizes by Ferdinand Barbedienne. Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-1892) was a highly important and prolific bronze founder of one of the most important French art foundries. He pioneered the use of mounts and, more commonly, bronze sculpture including figures and animals. Barbedienne produced catalogues of bronze reproductions of Greek and Roman classical sculpture and experimented with ‘champleve’ and ‘cloisonné’ enamels during the third quarter of the century. Barbedienne exhibited several pieces of furniture at the 1855 Paris Exhibition including a gilt-bronze mounted oak dressing table and a gilt-bronze mounted ebony veneered bookcase. Both pieces were executed in his favoured Renaissance revival style for furniture. Furniture with mounts signed by Barbedienne is extremely rare. The Barbedienne foundry employed up to three hundred skilled labourers, handling the casting of numerous national monuments and architectural schemes. Ferdinand Barbedienne himself also took an active part in the promotion of contemporary sculpture and became one of the founders for Davis d’Angers’ medallions as well as much of Rude’s sculpture. His signature varied from hand written capitals to stamp in capitals, usually ‘F. Barbedienne, Fondeur’ or ‘BARBEDIENNE PARIS’. In 1839 Barbedienne collaborated with the inventor Achille Collas who had succeeded in enlarging and reducing works of art to arbitrary sizes by a simple mathematical calculation, allowing the accurate reduction of classical and contemporary marbles for the purpose of reproduction in bronze. In 1850 Barbedienne was commissioned to furnish the Paris town hall for which he was awarded with the ‘medaille d’ honneur’ at the Paris World Exhibition in 1855. Sculpture Height – 50 inches / 127cm Width – 27 inches / 69cm Depth – 22 inches / 56cm Pedestal Height – 34 inches / 86cm

Creator:
Antonin Mercie (Sculptor),Ferdinand Barbedienne (Sculptor)
Dimensions:
Height: 50 in (127 cm)Width: 27 in (68.58 cm)Depth: 22 in (55.88 cm)
Sold As:
Set of 2
Style:
Belle Époque (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Bronze,Patinated
Place of Origin:
France
Period:
Late 19th Century
Date of Manufacture:
Circa 1884
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Long Island City, NY
Reference Number:
Seller: VB71stDibs: LU905628300852

Shop All Ferdinand Barbedienne

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.