Barye, Antoine Louis

Barye, Antoine Louis (äNtwän` lwē bärē`), 1796–1875, French animal sculptor. Son of a Parisian goldsmith, he followed his father's trade as a youth. In 1832 he exhibited at the Salon his Lion and Serpent (Tuileries), which won him recognition; but only late in life did he achieve fame and free himself from debt. His simple, romantic, and forceful studies of animals or groups of animals were often small and designed for commercial reproduction in bronze. They enjoyed an international popularity and are still highly prized. Well-known examples of his work are Tiger and Gavial, Jaguar and Hare, Theseus and the Minotaur (all: Louvre), and Centaur and Lapith (Tuileries). He is also represented in the Metropolitan Museum and in the Brooklyn Museum.

Bibliography

See C. S. Smith, Barbizon Days (1902, repr. 1969); G. F. Benge, Antoine-Louis Barye: Sculptor of Romantic Realism (1984).