Barye, Antoine-Louis

(1796-1875)

   sculptor, watercolorist

   Born in Paris, Antoine-Louis Barye was the son of a goldsmith and studied with the Monegasque sculptor F. Bosio, then with the painter antoine gros. He became well known as a painter of animais with his Tigre dévorant un gavial (1831) and then a Lion écrasant un serpent (1833). The nonconformity of his works was violently criticized, however, but he continued to receive officiai commissions (Lion en marche, for the July Column, 1840) and also produced works in a more classical spirit (Le Lapithe et le Centaure, 1850; Thésée combattant le Minotaure, 1855). Barye had a great sense of movement and an understanding of large animated forms, and he could exalt the epic and dramatic character of his subjects with a marked predeliction for the romantic theme of the struggles of wild beasts. A keen observer, he often went to paint at Barbizion, and his watercolors and drawings done there have great expressive power.