Laocoon

FERDINAND BARBEDIENNE (1810-92)

Silenus and the infant Bacchus, after the Antique 1847

Bronze | 78.5 x 32.0 x 32.5 cm (whole object) | RCIN 41048

Grand Corridor Second Section, Osborne House

A bronze statuette of Silenus, standing naked and with his left elbow leaning on a tree trunk, holding the naked infant Bacchus in his arms. Set on a rectangular base. This bronze was cast by the firm of the Parisian founder Francois Barbedienne and is a reduced version of an original antique Roman marble sculpture in the Musée du Louvre.

Provenance

Given to Queen Victoria by the Prince Consort in 1847 and displayed in the Grand Corridor at Osborne House.

FERDINAND BARBEDIENNE (1810-92)

Laocoon 1854

Bronze | 92.5 x 64.0 x 31.5 cm (whole object) | RCIN 41047

Grand Corridor Second Section, Osborne House

A reduced bronze version of the Laocoon, one of the most celebrated marbles from Roman antiquity, discovered near the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, on 14th January 1506. It was bought by Pope Julius II and placed in the Belvedere. The marble was widely reproduced from the Renaissance. It depicts Laocoon and his two sons engaged in a desperate fight with snakes, sent by the goddess Minerva to kill them. This version of the Laocoon was made by Ferdinand Barbedienne whose workshop in Paris specialised in the production of bronze reductions of Antique, Renaissance and Baroque sculpture.

Provenance

Given to Prince Albert by Queen Victoria on his birthday, 26th August 1854 [Victoria & Albert: Art & Love, London, 2010, pg 460]

AFTER ANTIQUE

Polyhymnia, daughter of Zeus 1847

73.5 x 18.5 x 35.0 cm (whole object) | RCIN 41046

Grand Corridor Second Section, Osborne House
A bronze statuette of Polyhymnia, standing at full-length, leaning against a pile of stones, resting her head on her right hand; wearing a long dress, her hair tied up in a wreath of flowers; on an irregular base. After a copy in The Louvre

Provenance

Given to Queen Victoria by Prince Albert, for her birthday, 24th May 1847. [Victoria & Albert: Art & Love, London, 2010, pg 456]