19th & 20th Century Sculpture
19th & 20th Century Sculpture
Louis-Ernest Barrias
La Nature se dévoilant devant la Science (Nature unveiling itself before science)
Lot Closed
July 12, 11:07 AM GMT
Estimate
50,000 - 70,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Louis-Ernest Barrias
French
1841 - 1905
La Nature se dévoilant devant la Science (Nature unveiling itself before science)
signed: E. Barrias and with the SUSSE FRERES EDITEURS PARIS pastille
partially polychromed white marble, silvered and gilt bronze, lapis lazuli scarab, on a black granite base
72.5cm., 28 1/2 in.
Barrias first exhibited the model of La Nature in white marble at the Paris Salon of 1893; this first version was entirely nude apart from the veil which hung over her head and fell to her toes. Barrias presented a reduced and edited version of this subject, partly clothed like the present example, at the Salon of 1899.
This mixed media sculpture is considered Barrias' best-known model. The foundry Susse Frères cast the bronze in five different sizes and with a variety of patinas, with inclusions of marble for the face, upper body, and feet. The use of various textures and precious materials, including the lapis lazuli, enhance the sensuous nature of the figure as well as its overall quality.
RELATED LITERATURE
P. Kjellberg, Bronzes of the 19th Century: Dictionary of Sculptors, 1994, Pennsylvania, pp.49-51; P. Fusco and H. Janson, The Romantics to Rodin, exh. cat. Los Angeles, 1980, pp. 118-120, no. 10
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