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Antoine-Louis Barye
Antoine-Louis Barye

Antoine-Louis Barye

French, 1796-1875
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Antoine-Louis Barye was a Romantic French sculptor most famous for his work as an animalier, a sculptor of animals. His son and student was the known sculptor Alfred Barye.

Born in Paris, France, Barye began his career as a goldsmith, like many sculptors of the Romantic Period. He first worked under his father Pierre, and 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 the goldsmith Emile Fauconnier 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 modeling 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 Barye earned an honorable mention. c. 1820 Barye sculpted Hercules with the Erymanthean Boar, depicting Hercules's fourth Labor, where he had to capture a live wild boar from Mount Erymanthos.

Barye was no less successful in sculpture on a small scale, and excelled in representing animals in their most familiar attitudes. Barye sculpted the portrait medallion Young Man in a Beret (1823) in bronze, as well as Portrait of the Founder Richard (1827), in which only a head and neck are shown. He also sculpted Poised Stag (1829), a much larger sculpture, which had a height of 48 cm, and was one-third 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 truly mastered a style of his own in the Lion with a Snake.

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 and a feeling for the beauty of the antique, as in his Theseus and the Minotaur (1843), Roger and Angelica on the Hippogriff (1846)), Lapitha and Centaur (1848), Jaguar Devouring a Hare (1850), and numerous minor works now very highly valued. The latter two works were exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1850, causing Théophile Gautier to observe:"The mere reproduction of nature does not constitute art; Barye aggrandizes his animal subjects, simplifying them, idealizing and stylizing them in a manner that is bold, energetic, and rugged, that makes him the Michelangelo of the menagerie."

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).

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 to 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.

Fame did not come until later in life. In 1854 he was made Professor of Drawings at the Museum of Natural History, and was elected to the Académie des beaux-arts in 1868. He produced no new works after 1869.

The mass of admirable work left by Barye entitles him to be regarded as one of the great animal life artists of the French animalier 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 dedicated to him.

63 items

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Portrait Of The Artist’s Daughter, Clara

Portrait Of The Artist’s Daughter, Clara

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Figurative
Landscape

Landscape (c. 1823–75)

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Landscape
Study of a Tiger

Study of a Tiger (1832)

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Illustration
Stag and Doe in Flight

Stag and Doe in Flight

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Animals
Two deer at rest in the forest of Fontainebleau

Two deer at rest in the forest of Fontainebleau

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Animals
Intérieur de la forêt de Fontainebleau

Intérieur de la forêt de Fontainebleau

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Landscape
A lioness

A lioness

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Animals
Paysage avec rocher

Paysage avec rocher

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Landscape
Chemin sableux en forêt de Fontainebleau

Chemin sableux en forêt de Fontainebleau

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Landscape
Tigre dévorant un cheval

Tigre dévorant un cheval (19th century)

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Animals
Lioness and Cubs

Lioness and Cubs (c. 1832)

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Animals
Jaguar Standing

Jaguar Standing (1830-50)

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Animals
Lion Devouring A Gazelle

Lion Devouring A Gazelle

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Animals
Bull

Bull

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Animals
View Of Fontainebleau Forest

View Of Fontainebleau Forest

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Landscape
Two Tigers at Play

Two Tigers at Play

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Animals
Lion Endormi

Lion Endormi

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Animals
Léopard aux prises avec un sanglier (Léopard Struggling with a Wild Boar)

Léopard aux prises avec un sanglier (Léopard Struggling with a Wild Boar) (ca. 1832)

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Animals
Tiger in Repose

Tiger in Repose (ca. 1850–65)

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Animals
A Doe Lying

A Doe Lying

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Abstract
Rocks In Fontainebleau

Rocks In Fontainebleau

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Landscape
View Of The Fontainebleau Forest

View Of The Fontainebleau Forest

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Landscape
Forest Of Fontainebleau

Forest Of Fontainebleau

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Landscape
Study Of A Panther Attacking A Prey

Study Of A Panther Attacking A Prey

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Animals
Rocks In Fontainebleau Forest

Rocks In Fontainebleau Forest

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Landscape
‘jean De Paris’ In Fontainebleau Forest

‘jean De Paris’ In Fontainebleau Forest

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Landscape
Forest Of Fontainebleau, The ‘reine Blanche’

Forest Of Fontainebleau, The ‘reine Blanche’

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Landscape
Python et gnou

Python et gnou (19th century)

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Drawings
Paysage d’Orient montagneux

Paysage d’Orient montagneux (19th century)

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Drawings
Rhinocéros

Rhinocéros (19th century)

Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)
Drawings
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