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Exceptional and rare pair of candlesticks in gilded and silvered bronze, in the shape of caryatids representing women dressed in drapes in the antique style, mounted on a round base, signed Barbedienne & Cie *, late 19th century.
These candlesticks are in very good condition, they are of exceptional quality. They are signed below.
A note: slight wear of time, tiny wear of silvering on one of the women, see photos.
was a French industrialist. It is mainly known for its bronze foundry of art reproduction. Son of a modest Norman cultivator, he made his first fortune in wallpaper before associating in 1838 with the mechanic Achille Collas (1795-1859), who had just invented a bronze reproduction process and at a smaller scale, works of art. In 1839, Barbedienne founded the house where he had most of the statues in European museums reproduced in bronze, small enough to adorn modern interiors. His idea was to democratize art, by making faithful reproductions of masterpieces accessible. The chosen themes are often allegorical, and draw heavily from the ancient repertoire. Even today, it is quite common to find in "bourgeois" homes bronzes signed Barbedienne. He applied his methods to the work of sculptors of his time (Barye, Fremiet, Mène, etc.) and created very many bronze models of furniture, enamels, partitions, high and low-reliefs in wood etc. Through the publishing contracts he offered them, he contributed to their success by distributing their works. Being childless, it was his nephew and successor, Gustave Leblanc-Barbedienne, who developed the foundry, specializing in monumental bronzes. In France, many war memorials are signed Leblanc-Barbedienne. The quality of the cast iron, the carving and the patina, specific to the Barbedian way, gradually made the signature of the founder more and more important. Thanks in particular to Ferdinand Barbedienne, the relationship between sculptor and founder has become analogous to the relationship between composer and performer for music. Ferdinand Barbedienne rests in the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
