THE YOUNG GIRL FROM
BOU SAÂDA
LOUIS-ERNEST BARRIAS (1841–1905)
French
Date : ca. 1890
Dimensions : 31 cm (height)
Material : Dark patinated bronze
Founder : Susse Frères, Paris
Signature : “E. Barrias” / Stamp: “Susse Fres Edts à Paris”
Provenance : French private collection
Historical and artistic context
Created for the tomb of the Orientalist painter Gustave Guillaumet, The Young Girl from Bou Saâda is a sculptural tribute to the pictorial world of the artist. Barrias draws from the recurring motifs of Guillaumet’s canvases, such as The Weavers, in which young women from Bou Saâda are depicted seated, absorbed in the act of spinning wool.
In his transposition into bronze, Barrias preserves the meditative posture but replaces the distaff and wool with a bouquet of flowers. This subtle displacement transforms a scene of daily life into a poetic allegory: the young girl, her eyes half-closed, embodies a silent offering, full of gentleness and contemplation.
The version of 71 cm in the Musée Camille Claudel combined marble with precious inlays of turquoise and mother-of-pearl. Our gilded bronze example of 31 cm offers a more intimate interpretation of this Orientalist masterpiece, in which the elegance of the drapery and the delicacy of the gesture reveal the full mastery of Barrias.
