Louis-Ernest Barrias (13 April 1841 – 4 February 1905) was a French sculptor of the Beaux-Arts school. In 1865 Barrias won the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

for study at the

French Academy in Rome The French Academy in Rome (french: Académie de France à Rome) is an Academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1 ...

. Barrias was involved in the decoration of the

Paris Opéra The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...

and the

Hôtel de la Païva The Hôtel de la Païva ("Mansion of La Païva") is a hôtel particulier, a type of large townhouse of France, that was built between 1856 and 1866, at 25 Avenue des Champs-Élysées by the courtesan Esther Lachmann, better known as ''La Païva'' ...

in the

Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is lo ...

. His work was mostly in marble, in a Romantic realist style indebted to

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (11 May 1827 – 12 October 1875) was a French sculptor and painter during the Second Empire under Napoleon III. Life Born in Valenciennes, Nord, son of a mason, his early studies were under François Rude. Carpeaux en ...

Biography

He was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

into a family of artists. His father was a porcelain-painter, and his older brother

Félix-Joseph Barrias Félix-Joseph Barrias (13 September 1822 – 24 January 1907) was a French painter. He was well known in his day for his paintings of religious, historical or mythical subjects, but has now been largely forgotten. Artists who trained in his s ...

a well-known painter. Louis-Ernest also started out as a painter, studying under

Léon Cogniet Léon Cogniet (29 August 1794 – 20 November 1880) was a French history and portrait painter. He is probably best remembered as a teacher, with more than one hundred notable students. Biography He was born in Paris. His father was a painter ...

, but later took up sculpture with

Pierre-Jules Cavelier Pierre-Jules Cavelier (30 August 1814, Paris – 28 January 1894, Paris) was a French academic sculptor. Biography The son of a silversmith and furniture maker, Cavelier was born in Paris. He was a student of the sculptors David d'Angers an ...

as teacher. In 1858 he was admitted to the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

in Paris, where his teacher was

François Jouffroy François Jouffroy (1 February 1806 – 25 June 1882) was a French sculptor. Biography Jouffroy was born in Dijon, France, the son of a baker, and attended the local drawing school before being admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 18 ...

. In 1865 Barrias won the

for study at the

. Barrias was involved in the decoration of the

and the

in the

. His work was mostly in marble, in a Romantic realist style indebted to

. In 1878 he was made a knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

, an officer in 1881, and a commander in 1900. Barrias replaced Dumont at the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute m ...

in 1884 then succeeded Cavelier as professor at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1900-03 he served on the Council for the National Museums. Among his students were

Josep Clarà Josep Clarà i Ayats (16 December 1878 – 4 November 1958) was a Spanish sculptor. His work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1924 Summer Olympics. Biography Clarà was born in Olot, Girona, Catalonia (Spain) i ...

Charles Despiau Charles Despiau (November 4, 1874 – October 28, 1946) was a French sculptor. Early life Charles-Albert Despiau was born at Mont-de-Marsan, Landes and attended first the École des Arts Décoratifs and later the École nationale supérieure de ...

Henri Bouchard Henri Bouchard (13 December 1875 – 30 November 1960), was a French sculptor. His work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1924 Summer Olympics. Biography The son of a carpenter, Bouchard was born in Dijon. He w ...

Fernand Hamar Fernand Joseph Job Hamar, born 15 July 1869 in Vendôme and died 10 March 1943 in Paris, was a French sculptor. Childhood and training Fernand Hamar was the eldest of Alexis Hamar and Marie Guillot. He had a sister, Marguerite and a little b ...

, and

Victor Ségoffin Victor Joseph Jean Ambroise Ségoffin (5 March 1867 – 17 October 1925) was a French sculptor. Biography Born in Toulouse, Ségoffin's early education was at the Lycée Pierre-de-Fermat. After school he was admitted to the Toulouse School o ...

. Barrias was very influenced by the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

style, which was prominent in art during the fin-de-siècle in France. The voluptuous women figures used in many of his sculptures are a product of this time and style. Nature and the erotic was, also, used often in this type style of art, which is seen in many of Barrias's works including, '' Nature Unveiling Herself Before Science''. This piece was made in 1899, when this style was popular. Another sculpture by Barrias is ''Portrait of the Young Mozart''. He also often used literary references in his sculptures (Fusco, Peter, and H. W, Janson, eds. ''The Romantics to Rodin''. New York: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1980. Print). Barrias died in Paris on 4 February 1905.

Selected works

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figures ...

: *Tomb of

Thomas Couture Thomas Couture (21 December 1815 – 30 March 1879) was a French history painter and teacher. He taught such later luminaries of the art world as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge,Wilkinson, Burke. ''The Life and Works of A ...

(c. 1879) *Tomb of Anatole de La Forge (1893) At the

Jardin des Tuileries The Tuileries Garden (french: Jardin des Tuileries, ) is a public garden located between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. Created by Catherine de' Medici as the garden of the Tuileries Palace in ...

: *''The Oath of

Spartacus Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising ...

''(1869, ''illustrated'') At

La Défense La Défense () is a major business district in France, located west of the city limits of Paris. It is part of the Paris metropolitan area in the Île-de-France region, located in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in the communes of Courbevoie, ...

: *''

La Défense de Paris ''La Défense de Paris'' is a bronze statue by French sculpture Louis-Ernest Barrias. It commemorates the French dead from the Siege of Paris in 1870–71, during the Franco-Prussian War. The sculpture group was unveiled to the west of Paris ...

'' (bronze) Monument to the defenders of Paris in 1870 (1880–1883). The plaster model was shown at the

Paris salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

of 1881, now in the

Petit Palais The Petit Palais (; en, Small Palace) is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle ("universal exhibition"), it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts (''Musée des beaux-arts ...

. At the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

: *'' Nature Unveiling Herself before Science'' (1899) *Bust of

Henri Regnault Alexandre Georges Henri Regnault (31 October 1843 – 19 January 1871) was a French painter. Biography Regnault was born in Paris, the son of Henri Victor Regnault. On leaving school he successively entered the studios of Antoine Montfort, Lou ...

(1871) *''

Nubian Nubian may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Nubia, a region along the Nile river in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan. *Nubian people *Nubian languages *Anglo-Nubian goat, a breed of goat * Nubian ibex * , several ships of the Britis ...

Alligator Hunters ''(1893–1894) At Dreux: *''Funeral monument of the duchesse d'Alençon''.Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, ''Mémoire de marbre. La Sculpture funéraire en France 1804-1914'' (Paris) 1995. In private collections: *''First Mourning'',

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

carrying

Abel Abel ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hābīl is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He was the younger brother of Cain, and the younger son of Adam and Eve, the first couple in Biblical history. He was a shepher ...

(1878) *''Fame'' (c. 1893)

Image gallery

File:Barrias_La_Jeune_Fille_de_Bou_Saada.jpg, ''La Jeune Fille de Bou Saada'' File:Barrias_Louis-Ernest_La_Renomee.jpg, ''Louis Ernest La Renomee'' File:Flower_of_Winter_detail.jpg, ''Flower of Winter'' File:Libération des noirs (1896) Louis-Ernest Barrias, Musée Saint-Nazaire, Bourbon-Lancy,.jpg, ''Libération des noirs'', 1896 (Musée Saint-Nazaire, Bourbon-Lancy) File:Chasseurs d'alligators Barrias Orsay.jpg, ''Les Chasseurs d'alligators ou Les Nubiens'', 1894 (

Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

, Paris) File:Les Premières funérailles - Louis-Ernest Barrias (B 837).jpg, ''The First Funeral'' or ''Adam and Eve carrying the body of Abel'', 1878 (

, Paris) File:Nature Reveals Herself to Science bronze Louis-Ernest Barrias.jpg, ''Nature Reveals Herself to Science'', bronze File:Henri Regnault par Barrias.JPG, Bust of

, 1871 (

, Paris) File:Victor Hugo, Barrias.jpg, Statue of

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

, 1896-1900 ( Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon) File:Statue Bossuet Barrias Sorbonne.jpg, Statue of

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet Jacques-Bénigne Lignel Bossuet (; 27 September 1627 – 12 April 1704) was a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addresses. He has been considered by many to be one of the most brilliant orators of all time and a m ...

, (Façade of the chapel of the Sorbonne, Paris) File:Paris 06 2012 La Defense monument 3219.jpg, ''

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrias, Louis-Ernest 1841 births 1905 deaths Artists from Paris 19th-century French sculptors 19th-century French male artists French male sculptors 20th-century French sculptors 20th-century French male artists Prix de Rome for sculpture Academic art École des Beaux-Arts alumni Members of the Académie des beaux-arts Burials at Passy Cemetery Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Art Nouveau sculptors