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| Antoine-Louis Barye (1796–1875) | ||||||||||
| A Romantic French sculptor and painter, Barye, like many sculptors of the Renaissance, began his career as a goldsmith. After studying under Bosio, the sculptor, and Gros, the painter, he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in 1818. However, it was not until 1823, while working for Fauconnier, the goldsmith, that he discovered his true calling. Observing the wild beasts in the Jardin des Plantes, he made vigorous pencil studies worthy of Delacroix before modelling them in sculpture on both large and small scales. In 1831, he exhibited Tiger Devouring a Crocodile, and by 1832, he had developed a distinctive style, as seen in Lion and Snake. Despite enduring constant financial struggles, Barye continued to exhibit his animal studies—admirable groups that reveal his deep sense of romance and appreciation for classical beauty, as exemplified in Theseus and the Minotaur (1847), Lapith and Centaur (1848), and numerous smaller works now highly valued. Barye was equally successful in small-scale sculpture, excelling in the depiction of animals in their most characteristic poses. His larger works include The Lion of the Column of July, for which the plaster model was cast in 1839, various lions and tigers in the Tuileries Gardens, and the four allegorical groups—War, Peace, Strength, and Order (1854). In 1852, he cast his bronze Jaguar Devouring a Hare. He was appointed professor at the museum in 1854 and elected to the Academy of Fine Arts in 1868. Barye is primarily known for his sculptures, but he was also a skilled painter, with his watercolours and oils often featuring dramatic scenes of predators and prey, reflecting the same energy and attention to detail seen in his three-dimensional works. The vast body of remarkable work he left behind establishes him as the greatest French animal sculptor and the founder of a new artistic tradition, which influenced artists such as Frémiet, Peter, Cain, and Gardet—rightly considered his most distinguished followers. | ||||||||||
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Art
