Patinated Bronze Figure of Amazon Warrior, or Armed Athena E. Hébert & V Pillard

Description

Amazon Warrior, or Armed Athena
model c. 1860–1872
Pierre-Eugène-Emile Hébert
Artist, French, 1828–1893
Cast by Victor Paillard, Paris The bronze depicts Athena standing with a spear held in the left hand. A crested Corinthian helmet with a frontal Medusa head and laurel band covers the head, while layered drapery crosses the torso and ties at the waist. The figure is barefoot, the ankles bound with simple straps, and stands on an integral bronze base set on a rectangular red marble plinth with white veining. Deep folds along the sleeves are pinched into repeating knots. The work is of very large size, with even, dark patination across the surface. The sculpture is by Pierre-Eugène-Emile Hébert and is signed E. Hébert on the edge of the bronze base. A circular foundry mark of Victor Paillard appears on the base, identifying the Paris foundry that cast the model. The present casting and markings align with editions produced in the late 1800s. A closely related Hébert model is preserved at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, titled Amazon Preparing for Battle (Queen Antiope or Hippolyta?), or Armed Venus. Hébert trained with Jean-Jacques Feuchère and exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon from 1857 through the 1890s, receiving medals and official notice. He worked in bronze and marble on mythological and allegorical subjects, and his figures were issued in multiple sizes through leading Paris founders, including Paillard. Paillard’s foundry was among the principal nineteenth-century Paris houses for high-quality sculpture casting and collaborated with many Salon artists, which situates this Athena within established academic production of the period.

Details

Dimensions