Louis Ernest Barrias

When Barrias’ original patinated plaster model of The First Funeral (now at the Dépot de la Ville de Paris) was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1878, critics praised it as “The most beautiful of French Sculptures,” (L. Menard, “La Sculpture au Salon de 1878,” l’Art 14, 1878) earning the sculptor a Medal of Honor and contributing to his election to the Legion of Honor. 

The sculpture’s powerful subject matter illustrates a bereaved Adam and Eve straining to carry their slain son Abel. While Eve tenderly embraces her dead son, Adam solemnly gazes towards them while bearing the weight of Abel’s body. Abel’s limp form recalls iconographic treatments of the lamentation over the dead Christ. For Barrias, this biblical story of tragic death served as an appropriate allegory for commemorating victims of the Franco-Prussian war.