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Louis Ernest Barrias "La Nature se dévoilant á la Science" Bronze Sculpture
$9,500
This French Art Nouveau bronze sculpture, titled “La Nature se dévoilant á la Science” by Ernest Barrias, displays a woman lifting a large gilded draped fabric from her body to expose her visage and bare chest. “La Nature se dévoilant á la Science” translates to English as “Nature unveiling herself to Science.” This woman serves as an allegorical figure representing nature. She is clothed from her sternum down, with a lapis lazuli scarab securing the bronze drapery that encases her nude form.
- Product Details
- Curator's Notes
Item #: YS-20988
Artist: Louis Ernest Barrias
Country: France
Circa: 1900
Dimensions: 9.25" height, 4" width, 2.5" depth
Materials: Gilt Bronze, Lapis Lazuli
Signed: "E Barrias" and Foundry Mark, Susse Freres Editeurs Paris.
Literature: Goldring, Jessica, Benjamin Macklowe Kathleen Moore, Lary Matlick, Antonio Virardi, and Macklowe Gallery. 2011. Dynamic Beauty : Sculpture of Art Nouveau Paris. New York N.Y: Macklowe Gallery. p. 52
This Barrias masterpiece is a known precursor of Art Nouveau as the sculpture was first exhibited as a marble nude in 1893. This particular sculpture version appeared for the 1902 Faculty of Medicine held by the Académie Nationale de Médecine in Paris. This figure acknowledges the connection between nature and science, likely a new concept discussed at the Faculty of Medicine.