Barbedienne Pair Of Large 19th Century Bronze Caryatid Lamps

Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-1892) important pair of lamps with patinated bronze caryatids supporting a top of gilt bronze capitals decorated with a frosted glass lampshade with a flame motif, the whole resting on molded pyramidal bases sculpted in griotte marble richly highlighted with gilt bronze ornamentation. Work of very good authentic quality from the 19th century of the Napoleon III period, both signed on the back F. BARBEDIENNE and bearing a foundry stamp of Achille Collas. Ferdinand Barbedienne is one of the most famous bronze makers of the 19th century, quality of casting and beautiful patina make his reputation, he accomplished many works preserved in European museums, it is very likely that our caryatids are rigorously inspired by those which support the tribune of the musicians located in the Louvre in "the room of the caryatids" which owes its name to the four female figures sculpted by Jean Goujon in 1550, this room is on the ground floor of the wing built in the Renaissance style by Pierre Lescot in the 16th century.

Ferdinand BARBEDIENNE settled in Paris in 1822, his meeting with Achille Collas (1795-1859) dates from these years. Collas and Barbedienne will join forces and open a foundry in 1838. Barbedienne, very interested in the innovative techniques favored by the government of Louis-Philippe, actively participated in the romantic movement. The taste for history and Gallo-Roman archaeology spread at the same time as the taste for ancient bronzes. Achille Collas had also invented a mechanical process that made it possible to mathematically reproduce sculptures in the round using a reducer, or pantograph. This invention was considered from the start as important as that of the daguerreotype. The firm of Collas and Barbedienne sold plaster reductions of the Venus de Milo for a time, then specialized in the production of bronzes based on antiquity. At the International Exhibition in London in 1851, and then at the one in Paris in 1855, the firm, registered under the name Barbedienne, won numerous medals. It then presented reductions based on antiquity, the Renaissance, the 18th century and certain modern sculptors such as Bosio, David d'Angers, Clesinger and Frémiet, with whom Barbedienne signed exclusive contracts.