Louis-Ernest Barrias
(Paris 1841-1905)

La Nature se dévoilant devant la science

Exhibited at the Salon in 1893 (marble)
Bronze, with three-tone patination,: brown-red, gold and clear brown
Signed 'E.Barrias', stamped 'P' for the chisselor and with the stamp and inscription of Susse Frères Éditeurs Paris
Cast ca. 1900
H. 73cm

La Nature is Barrias's most famous work and is one of the prime examples of the fashion for colored sculpture so prevalent at the end of the nineteenth century. Barrias initially executed the figure in marble, naked except for a long veil down her back. This was exhibited at the Salon in 1893 and acquired by the Ecole de Medecine in Bordeaux. A replica was made for Carl Jacobsen three years later. In 1899, Barrias exhibited a second, fully dressed version, which combined several different marbles. The exhibition piece, now in the Musée d’Orsay resulted in the casting of multicolored bronzes like the present sculpture.

 

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