F. Barbedienne Ottoman Style Chandelier, Attributed...

F. Barbedienne Ottoman Style Chandelier, Attributed to F.barbedienne, France, Circa 1870 Height 100 cm; Diam. 55 cm A beautiful six-arm chandelier of oriental inspiration, made of patinated bronze and gilt bronze. Refined ornamentation of arabesques, cords and lambrequins imitating passementerie. Biography Born in 1810, died in Paris in 1892, Ferdinand Barbedienne created and directed one of the most important art foundries of the 19th century. In addition to his own production, he worked for such renowned sculptors as Barrias, Clésinger and Carrier-Belleuse. Their illustrated catalogs featured a wide range of products, including busts, ornamental sculpture (pendulums, candelabras, sconces, etc.), sometimes even life-size, and bronzes for furniture. His work was always highly acclaimed, and he was constantly honored by contemporary critics, who compared him to "a prince of industry and the king of bronze" at the 1878 Exposition Universelle. Indeed, the Exposition catalog did not hesitate to regard Barbedienne as the emblematic figure of nineteenth-century bronzeworkers. His fame continued to spread over the years, and at the 1889 Exposition Universelle, critics thanked Barbedienne for serving as a master to other bronzemakers, through the consistently exemplary quality of his bronzes.