Ferdinand Barbedienne

FERDINAND BARBEDIENNE (France, 1810-1892); third quarter of the 19th century.
"Ariadne asleep".
Patinated bronze.
Presents mechanical reduction stamp "Achille Collas".
Signed "Barbedienne Foundry".
Measurements: 48 x 63 x 22 cm.
This sculpture is a bronze version of the "Sleeping Ariadne", cast by Ferdinand Barbedienne whose original model is in the Vatican Museums.
The Sleeping Ariadne was discovered at the beginning of the 16th century. In 1512 it was bought by Pope Julius II, who placed it in the Belvedere Palace, today part of the Vatican Museum. The work was ceded to the French in 1797 by the Treaty of Tolentino and sent to Paris. After being exhibited for a time at the Louvre, it returned to Rome after the fall of Napoleon and found its final place in the Gallery of Statues of the Pio-Clementine Museum.
Initially identified as Cleopatra, due to the coiled serpent in the bracelet on her left arm, she was eventually recognized by art historians as a beautiful sleeping Ariadne. The recumbent figure, dressed in a Greek tunic knotted under the chest, appears semi-sitting, with her legs stretched out and crossed at the calves, her head resting on her left arm and her right hand raised above her head.
A bronze adaptation was made by Le Primatice at the request of Francis I. Primaticcio traveled to Rome in 1540 and then in 1545 to make casts of the famous marble. The posture of the sleeping Ariadne de Fontainebleau differs from that of the ancient original: it is more inclined backwards, it is not known whether this is due to a deformation of the molds brought from Rome or to a deliberate choice of Primaticcio himself. Later, Jean-Baptiste Goy and Corneille Van Cleve made other replicas in marble for the collections of Louis XIV. Finally, in the second half of the 18th century, the Italian sculptors Zoffoli and Righetti, as well as Pierre Julien, sculpted their own versions of this sleeping beauty. Cleopatra or sleeping Ariadne.