Albert Désiré Barre (Paris 6 May 1818 – 29 December 1878) was a French engraver,

medalist A medalist (or medallist) is an artist who designs medals, plaquettes, badges, metal medallions, coins and similar small works in relief in metal. Historically, medalists were typically also involved in producing their designs, and were usually e ...

, and the 18th Chief Engraver of the Paris Mint from 27 February 1855 to his death. He was the son of

Jacques-Jean Barre Jacques-Jean Barre (3 August 1793 – 10 June 1855) was the 17th chief coin engraver (graveur général) at the Monnaie de Paris between 1842 and 1855. In this position, he engraved and designed French medals, the Great Seal of France, bank no ...

who preceded him as the Chief Engraver.Désiré-Albert Barre, ''Graveurs Généraux et particuliers des Monnaies de France, Contrôleurs Généraux des Effigies, Noms de quelques graveurs en Médailles de la Renaissance Française'' , Paris, 1867. His brother Jean-Auguste Barre, a French sculptor and medalist, succeeded him as Chief Engraver after his death in Paris.

Early life

Attracted to painting, Barre joined the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...

in 1838 and became a pupil of

Paul Delaroche Hippolyte-Paul Delaroche (; Paris, 17 July 1797 – Paris, 4 November 1856) was a French painter who achieved his greater successes painting historical scenes. He became famous in Europe for his melodramatic depictions that often portrayed subje ...

. His interest in ancient art led him to take several trips to Italy. He exhibited biblical themes at the

Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

from 1843 to 1851. He received a third-class medal at the Salon in 1846. He painted the frescoes in the chapel of

Saint-Eustache, Paris The Church of St. Eustache, Paris (, ), is a church in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. The present building was built between 1532 and 1633. Situated near the site of Paris' medieval marketplace ( Les Halles) and rue Montorgueil, Saint-Eustac ...

. Having failed to finish the frescoes he had begun in the chapel of the Holy Innocents in the same church, they were by the Paul-Dominique Gourlier in 1855. His career changed when his father, Jacques-Jean Barre, asked him to assist him at the mint in 1845. Became his father's closest collaborator, so much so that it becomes difficult to distinguish their respective contributions, especially for the early French stamp projects dating from 1848.

Chief Engraver

In February 1855, he succeeded his father, to the post of Chief Engraver of the Paris Mint. He wrote ''Graveurs Généraux et particuliers des Monnaies de France'', ''Contrôleurs Généraux des Effigies'', ''Noms de quelques graveurs en Médailles de la Renaissance Française'', published in 1867. In 1855, he resumed the work of his father, including engravings for French postage stamps. Barre, unlike his father, did not work well with Anatole Hulot the contractor responsible for printing the stamps. Hulot was an expert at

electroplating Electroplating, also known as electrochemical deposition or electrodeposition, is a process for producing a metal coating on a solid substrate through the redox, reduction of cations of that metal by means of a direct current, direct electric cur ...

, and utilized that technique to make the printing plates for the stamps. To compete with this technique for the reproduction of images on the printing plates, Barre embarked on striking tests with coining presses between 1858 and 1859. He produced, on the order of the Committee on Coins, test types of the Ceres stamp. In the end, Hulot retained the contract by lowering his prices. In 1861, thanks to the delay of Hulot, the technique of using the coin press, however, allowed Barre to take the contract to produce printing plates of the first postage stamps of Greece. Barre had designed the drawing and the dies for the new Hermes type, a few months prior. In 1876, he provided the same work for the creation of two additional stamps. The strained relationship between Barre and Hulot caused delays in the production of new stamps in the early 1860s. In disagreement with Hulot's work, Barre delayed the delivery of the dies of the new laurel effigies of Napoleon III stamps which had been designed in early 1861. On two occasions for the new denomination, Hulot returned the die damaged to Barre for retouching. In August 1866, although he has made the model in July, Barre refused to engrave the die of the new five francs stamp. Hulot has to make do with copies of old dies.Jean-François Brun (editor), ''Le Patrimoine du timbre-poste français'', Flohic éditions, 1998, , page 75. After his death, his brother Jean-Auguste Barre succeeded him as Chief Engraver in 1879.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barre, Albert Desire 1818 births 1878 deaths Sculptors from Paris 19th-century French engravers French engravers French medallists 19th-century French sculptors French male sculptors French stamp designers 19th-century French male artists