1 / 6
Featured lot selected by the auctions House.
Maître Brice Pescheteau-Badin
143
-
Antoine Louis Barye (1795-1875)
Lion with snake, known as th…
See original version (French)
143
-
Antoine Louis Barye (1795-1875)
Lion with snake, known as th…
See original version (French)
Estimate €5,000 - €6,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Antoine Louis Barye (1795-1875)
Lion with snake, known as the Lion of the Tuileries
Model created in 1833
Bronze with brown-green patina
Signed "BARYE" on the front under the right paw
Dim. 37 x 46.5 x 26.5 cm
Provenance: former collection of the painter Léon Bertier, by descent
Related works :
- Antoine Louis Barye, Lion au serpent, plaster group, 1832, signed and dated "BARYE / 1832" on the plinth of the terrace, H. 135 x 178,5 x 101 cm, Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts, inv. no. H 2457
- Antoine Louis Barye, Lion au serpent (Lion des Tuileries), 1832, bronze, signed "BARYE / 1832" on the front of the terrace, bears the founder's stamp "AD" near the lion's tail, bears the founder's mark "FONDU PAR HONORÉ GONON / ET SES DEUX FILS / 1835" on the reverse, H. 135 x W. 178 x D. 96 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre, n° inv. RF 1516.
Related literature:
-Michel Poletti, Alain Richarme, Barye, le catalogue raisonné des sculptures, Paris, Gallimard, 2000, model listed under no. A 51, p. 174.
Launched by the success of the Paris Salon of 1831, Antoine Louis Barye (1796-1875) confirmed the expectations raised at the following exhibition by presenting an impressive plaster cast of The Lion and the Snake. Although this type of episode had already been illustrated by painters, it was unprecedented for a sculptor. The work is as striking for the violence of its subject as for its virtuosity and realism. This naturalistic approach coincided with the arrival of five African lions and eight lionesses at the Museum's Menagerie following the French takeover of Algiers on 4 November 1830. A political interpretation of the work has also been proposed, identifying the lion as a symbol of the new regime of the July Monarchy - born under the auspices of this zodiacal sign - which put down any attempts at revolt in 1830.
Le Lion au serpent occupied a singular place in the sculptor's career, since its success led the king to commission a marble copy, which was eventually abandoned in favour of a bronze version, destined to be installed in front of the Tuileries Palace in 1836. Our rare proof is a reduction of slightly less than a third of the bronze copy in the Musée du Louvre, cast by Honoré Gonon in 1835. It precisely reproduces all the details of the plaster cast of the 1833 Salon, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon. At the sale after Barye's death in 1876, Hector Brame bought this version, which is distinguished by its naturalistic terrace, for a posthumous half-size edition (H. 58 cm). There is no formal record of an edition in our size in the literature on the Lion des Tuileries. At most, we can mention that the Atelier de Barye, between 1857 and 1875, cast a few rare examples without specifying the size. It should be noted that at the Exposition Universelle in 1855, the sculptor presented a unique proof described as "Le Lion des Tuileries, en raccourci". Our version has an unusual stamp showing a star.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like