Biography

Antoine-Louis Barye was a French sculptor working in the animalier style. Best known for his Neoclassical bronze statues featuring exotic animals in repose, engaged in battle, and in mythological situations, Barye began his artistic life working and studying under prominent French sculptors and painters before training as a goldsmith. His lively sculptures are considered an important link between 19th-century Romanticism and Realism, and Barye enjoyed numerous awards and prestigious commissions from bourgeois French families. Born in Paris, France on September 24, 1796, he discovered his predilection for capturing the movements and form of animals by observing those on display at the Jardin des Plantes zoo in his native city, often accompanied by his friend Eugène Delacroix. Before his death on June 25, 1875, while facing looming bankruptcy and the financial stress that plagued much of his life, his entire inventory of bronzes, plasters, models, and even the rights to produce them were sold to the Barbedienne foundry. Today, his works are held in major collections around the world, including the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the National Gallery in London.