“The Hunt” Louis-Ernest Barrias – Ferdinand Barbedienne

Louis-Ernest Barrias (1841-1905)   “The Hunt”.

Imposing bronze sculpture with brown patina, 98 cm high.

Signature “E. Barrias” on the rock; “F. Barbedienne fondeur Paris” and mechanical reduction stamp “Collas” on the base.

This magnificent sculpture was created by Barrias in 1889 for the Prefect’s dining room at the Paris City Hall and published by Maison Barbedienne.

Louis-Ernest Barrias was born into a family of artists. His father is a porcelain painter and his brother, Félix-Joseph Barrias, an academic painter. Louis-Ernest naturally turned towards artistic studies. At the École des Beaux-arts in Paris, where he entered in 1858, he abandoned painting to turn to sculpture in the workshop of François Jouffroy. In 1861 Louis Ernest Barrias won the second prize of Rome with “Chryssis returned to her father by Ulysses”, then the First prize of Rome in 1864 on the theme of the Foundation of Marseille. After being hired on the construction site of the Paris Opera, he became a resident of the Villa Medici in Rome from 1866 to 1869 where he created the “Fileuse de Magare”.Sensitive to Renaissance art, Louis Ernest Barrias is a realistic and meticulous sculptor. An eclectic and fertile artist, he created a large number of sculptures, often in marble, in a very academic and neo-classical style.

Louis Ernest Barrias, a recognized sculptor, received many orders for busts, groups, commemorative or funerary monuments. In 1881, he was awarded a Medal of Honor for Fine Arts, and in 1884, he became a member of the Institute, then professor at the School of Fine Arts in 1894 where he succeeded Pierre-Jules Cavelier (1814 -1894).

Much of his work can be seen at the Musée d’Orsay or at the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

Measures:
H cm 98
Base cm 32 x 24