Théodore Hébért, The Venus de Milo (1866)

THÉODORE-MARTIN HÉBERT (Paris, 1829 - 1913) The Venus de Milo. 1866. Patinated bronze alloy. H. 42 cm. Signed and dated on the left side of the pedestal: Theodore Hebert / 1866. Wear on the patina. Théodore Hébert, born in Paris, a pupil of the sculptor Jean-Louis Chenillion, exhibited at the Salon for a period of forty years, from 1848 to 1886. He specialised in allegorical figures and ancient subjects. Although a sculptor producing original works, Hébert also made copies after the antique, including the Venus de Milo. This marble figure, discovered on the island of Milo in 1820, entered the Louvre in 1821 and quickly became one of the most famous sculptures in the world, leading to a demand for reproductions. The Barbedienne company had privileged access to the Louvre to work directly with the original, from which it created moulds of various sizes to cast bronze reductions. Other copies began to appear on the market as other sculptors started to produce their own copies of the Venus de Milo to meet the demand. Most of them proceeded by taking a mould directly from a Barbedienne bronze copy and producing their own copies from it. In 1861, Barbedienne took legal action against a group of sculptors, including Hébert, for taking moulds directly from their bronze reproductions and then reselling these casts as their own. The case was prolonged and complex, often addressing significant legal and philosophical details, but the outcome was that ultimately, Barbedienne won against the accused sculptors - all except Hébert. Hébert was able to prove that for his copy of the Venus de Milo, rather than copying a Barbedienne bronze, he had made his own copy during visits to the Louvre!.