Louis-Ernest Barrias (French, 1841-1905)
Louis-Ernest Barrias (French, 1841-1905)
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Property from an Important European Collection
Louis-Ernest Barrias (French, 1841-1905)

La nature se dévoilant devant la science

Details
Louis-Ernest Barrias (French, 1841-1905)
La nature se dévoilant devant la science
signed 'E. Barrias Scpr' (on the left side of base), with Susse Frères foundry cachet (on the reverse) and further inscription 'Susse Fres Edtr' (on the right side of base)
gilt-bronze, marble, lapis lazuli
39 in. (99 cm.) high
This cast circa 1905.

Lot Essay

Barrias's most celebrated work, an homage to advances made in scientific exploration, first appeared in marble at the Paris Salon of 1893 by its lengthier title 'La Nature mystérieuse et voilée se découvre devant la Science' (no. 2543) and was fittingly acquired by the faculty at l'École de Médecine in Bordeaux. The figure resurfaced at the 1899 Salon simply titled 'La Nature se dévoilant' (no. 3186), executed in polychrome marble and Algerian onyx, a taste that gained popularity by pioneers in polychromy such as Charles-Henri-Joseph Cordier and Eugène Cornu. However, the first casts exhibited by Susse were shown in various sizes and to great critical acclaim at the 1900 Exposition universelle, prompting orders for mixed media models, such as the present example. At the Liège Exhibition of 1905, the renowned bronzier Théodore Millet deemed the model a tour-de-force for the Susse firm and proclaimed it 'the finest of the works exhibited'.

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