Antoine-Louis Barye

{"Id":266,"Name":"Antoine-Louis Barye","Biography":"\u003Cstrong\u003EBARYE, ANTOINE LOUIS\u003C/strong\u003E (1796-1875), French sculptor, was born in Paris on the 24th of September 1796. Like many of the sculptors of the Renaissance he began life as a goldsmith. After studying under \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=2665\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003EBosio\u003C/a\u003E, the sculptor, and \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=2397\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003EGros\u003C/a\u003E, the painter, he was in 1818 admitted to the \u0026Eacute;cole des Beaux Arts. But it was not till 1823, when he was working for Fauconnier, the goldsmith, that he discovered his real bent from watching the wild beasts in the Jardin des Plantes, making vigorous studies of them in pencil drawings worthy of Delacroix and then modelling them in sculpture on a large or small scale. In 1831 he exhibited his \u003Cu\u003ETiger devouring a Crocodile\u003C/u\u003E, and in 1832 had mastered a style of his own in the \u003Cu\u003ELion and Snake\u003C/u\u003E. Thenceforward Barye, though engaged in a perpetual struggle with want, exhibited year after year these 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 \u003Cu\u003ETheseus and the Minotaur\u003C/u\u003E (1847), \u003Cu\u003ELapitha and Centaur\u003C/u\u003E (1848), and numerous minor works now very highly valued. Barye was no less successful in sculpture on a small scale, and excelled in representing animals in their most familiar attitudes. As examples of his larger work we may mention the \u003Cu\u003ELion of the Column of July\u003C/u\u003E, of which the plaster model was cast in 1839, various lions and tigers in the gardens of the Tuileries, and the four groups: \u003Cu\u003EWar\u003C/u\u003E, \u003Cu\u003EPeace\u003C/u\u003E, \u003Cu\u003EStrength\u003C/u\u003E, and \u003Cu\u003EOrder\u003C/u\u003E (1854). In 1852 he cast his bronze \u003Cu\u003EJaguar devouring a Hare\u003C/u\u003E. The fame he deserved came too late to the sculptor. He was made professor at the museum in 1854, and was elected to the Academy of Fine Arts in 1868. He died on the 25th of June 1875. The mass of admirable work left to us by Barye entitles him to be regarded as the greatest artist of animal life of the French school, and as the creator of a new class of art which has attracted such men as \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=175\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003EFremiet\u003C/a\u003E, Peter, Cain, and Gardet, who are regarded with justice as his worthiest followers.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EAUTHORITIES: Emile Lam, \u003Cu\u003ELes Sculpteurs d\u0027animaux; M. Barye\u003C/u\u003E (Paris, 1856); Gustave Planche, \u003Cu\u003EM. Barye, Revue des deux mondes\u003C/u\u003E (July 1851); Thophile Silvestre, \u003Cu\u003EHistoires des artistes vivants\u003C/u\u003E (Paris, 1856); Arsne Alexandre, \u003Cu\u003EA. L. Barye, Les Artistes c\u0026eacute;l\u0026egrave;bres\u003C/u\u003E, ed. E. Muntz (Paris, 1889) (with a bibliog.) ; Charles DeKay, \u003Cu\u003ELife and Works of A. L. Barye\u003C/u\u003E (1889), published by the Barye Monument Assoc. of New York; Jules Claretie, \u003Cu\u003EPeintres et sculpteurs contemporains\u003C/u\u003E (1882); Roger Ballu, \u003Cu\u003EL\u0027OEuvre de Barye\u003C/u\u003E (1890); Charles Sprague Smith, \u003Cu\u003EBarbizosz Days\u003C/u\u003E (1903). (H. FR.)\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cu\u003ESource:\u003C/u\u003E\u003C/strong\u003E Entry on the artist in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http://3.1911encyclopedia.org/B/BA/BARYE_ANTOINE_LOUIS.htm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E1911 Edition Encyclopedia\u003C/a\u003E.\u003Cp\u003E","Awards":null,"HasAlbums":false,"HasPortraits":true,"HasRelationships":true,"HasArticles":false,"HasDepictedPlaces":false,"HasLetters":false,"HasLibraryItems":false,"HasProducts":false,"HasSignatures":false,"HasVideos":false,"HasMapLocations":true,"TotalArtworks":15}