Four Centuries of the world's finest artists
from our collection to yours
Thank you for visiting...
Click here for HOT DEALS | Click here for our NO RESERVE AUCTIONS
Artist: Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Title: Lion Walking (Le Lion qui Marche)
Medium: Antique Etching on laid paper after the original Bronze by master etcher Abel Lurat (French, 1829-1890).
Year: 1880
Signature: Signed in the Plate lower center.
Condition: Excellent
Dimensions: Image Size 5 x 6 1/2 inches..
Framed dimensions: Approximately 14 x 16 inches.
Framing: This piece has been professionally matted and framed using all new materials.
Additional notes:
This is not a modern print. This etching was hand pulled from the copper plate more than 135 years ago. The strike is crisp and the lines are sharp.
Artist Biography:
Antoine-Louis Barye
was a French sculptor most famous for his work as an animalier, a sculptor of
animals. Born in Paris, Barye began his career as a goldsmith, like many
sculptors of the Romantic Period. He first worked under his father, Pierre, but
around 1810 worked under the sculptor Guillaume-Mertin Biennais, who was a
goldsmith to Napoleon. After studying under sculptor Francois-Joseph Bosio in
1816 and painter Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, he was (in 1818) admitted to the École
des Beaux-Arts. But it was not until 1823, while working for Fauconnier, the
goldsmith, that he discovered his true predilection from watching the animals in
the Jardin des Plantes, making vigorous studies of them in pencil drawings
comparable to those of Delacroix, then modelling them in sculpture on a large or
small scale. In 1819, while he was studying at the École des Beaux-Arts, Barye
sculpted a medallion named Milo of Crotana Devoured by a Lion, in which the lion
bites into Milo's left thigh. Milo's theme was the school's official theme for
the medallion competition of 1819, where Bayre earned an honorable mention.
Around 1820 Bayre sculpted Hercules with the Erymanthean Boar, depicting
Hercules during his fourth Labor, where he had to capture, live, a wild boar
from Mount Erymanthos. Barye sculpted the portrait medallion Young Man in a
Beret (1823) in bronze, as well as Portrait of the Founder Richard in 1827, in
which only a head and neck are shown. He also sculpted Poised Stag in 1829, a
much larger sculpture, which had a height of 48 cm, and was one-third of life
size. Barye didn't only want to be known as a sculptor of small bronzes, he
wanted to be known as a sculpteur statuaire (a sculptor of large statues). In
1831 he exhibited much larger statues, Tiger Devouring a Gavial Crocodile which
was a plaster sculpture 41 cm high and 103 cm long, and Lion Crushing a Serpent,
138 cm high and 178 cm long, made in bronze. In 1832 had mastered a style of his
own in the Lion and Snake. Theseus and the Minotaur, 1843 (Baltimore Museum of
Art) Turkish Horse, No. 2, modeled ca. 1844 (Walters Art Museum) Tomb and bust
of Antoine-Louis Barye at the Père Lachaise Cemetery Thenceforward Barye, though
engaged in a perpetual struggle with want, exhibited year after year studies of
animals—admirable groups which reveal him as inspired by a spirit of true
romance, as in his Roger and Angelica on the Hippogriff (1840), drawn from an
episode in Orlando furioso, and a feeling for the beauty of the antique, as in
Theseus and the Minotaur (1847), "Lapitha and Centaur" (1848), and numerous
minor works now very highly valued. Barye was no less successful in sculpture on
a small scale, and excelled in representing animals in their most familiar
attitudes. Examples of his larger work include the Lion of the Column of July,
of which the plaster model was cast in 1839, various lions and tigers in the
gardens of the Tuileries, and the four groups--War, Peace, Strength, and Order
(1854). In 1852, he cast his bronze Jaguar Devouring a Hare. Fame came late in
the sculptor's life. He was made Professor of Drawings at the Museum of Natural
History in 1854, and was elected to the Académie des beaux-arts in 1868. No new
works were produced by Barye after 1869. While Barye excelled at sculpture he
often faced financial burdens due to his lack of business knowledge. In 1848 he
was forced to declare bankruptcy and all of his work and molds were sold to a
foundry. The foundry began making inferior work from 1848-1857 and his
reputation suffered during this time. In 1876 what remained of Barye's
inventory, 125 models, were sold to the Ferdinand Barbedienne foundry. The 1877
Barbedienne catalogue offered all of the models in bronze in variable sizes, and
the Barbedienne castings were of superb quality. The mass of admirable work left
by Barye entitles him to be regarded as one of the great animal life artists of
the French school, and the refiner of a class of art which has attracted such
men as Emmanuel Frémiet, Paul-Édouard Delabrièrre, Auguste Cain, and Georges
Gardet. There is a public square on the eastern tip of Île Saint-Louis in Paris
that is dedicated to him. Barye had a son, Alfred Barye, who studied under him
and also became an animalier sculptor. Alfred, although very competent in his
own right as a sculptor, would struggle to gain notoriety working in the shadow
of his more famous father. Antoine-Louis was not pleased when his son began
signing work as "A. Barye" because he thought this created confusion between his
work and that of his son. He forced his son to sign as "A. Barye, fils" or "Alf
Barye" in order to distinguish their works. The senior Barye signed only one way
throughout his entire career, simply marking his bronzes "Barye".
Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity and is Fully Guaranteed to be Certified as Described
Framing |
Any framing included in a listing is double matted and framed in a solid wood moulding. We can also frame any pieces not listed as such. Please contact us for pricing. We are usually half the price of a regular framer. |
Shipping |
Packages are shipped the next business day after confirmed payment is received. If you are making multiple purchases, please request an invoice so that we may combine shipping charges for you. |
Guarantee |
We guarantee all our listings to be 100% as described |
Returns |
Returns are accepted up to fourteen days after receiving your purchase. Buyer accepts responsibility for any additional shipping charges. |
| Click here for HOT DEALS | Click here for our NO RESERVE AUCTIONS |