Venus
Ferdinand Barbedienne (Calvados 1810 - Paris 1892)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
circa 1850 - circa 1892
Materials
Ormolu
Measurements
430 x 210 x 210 mm
Place of origin
Paris
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 435374.2
Summary
Ormolu on ormolu base, Venus, Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-1892), signed F. Barbedienne Fondeur, 19th century. One of a pair of ormolu andirons of Diana and Venus.
Full description
Venus, goddess of love, is seated on a tree trunk, her lower half draped. She turns to one side, with one hand resting on a dove and the other outstretched, gesturing in the opposite direction. Behind her a putto holds a sword. Both ormolu figures are mounted on spreading square bases of Louis XVI design. The andirons were cast in Paris by the noted French bronze founder Ferdinand Barbedienne after marble sculptures by Nicolas Coustou. Now housed in the Musée du Louvre, Coustou’s Diana and Venus were originally joined by the resting figure of Adonis to form a sculptural group illustrating the theme of the hunt (inventory nos. M.R. 1796, 1799, 1800). The three sculptures, dated 1710, were installed next to the Horse Pond in Louis XIV’s Château de Marly. Alice Rylance-Watson October 2018
Provenance
Purchased with a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) from Edward John Peregrine Cust, 7th Baron Brownlow, C. St J. (b.1936) in 1984.
Credit line
Belton House, The Brownlow Collection (acquired with the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund by the National Trust in 1994)
Marks and inscriptions
Side of base, proper left: F. BARBEDIENNE FONDEUR
Makers and roles
Ferdinand Barbedienne (Calvados 1810 - Paris 1892), founder