Antoine Louis Barye Biography
Antoine-Louis Barye (Paris 1796 - 1875) was a French sculptor and painter who occupied a unique place in 19th-century art. His work evolves from naturalism to classical aesthetics. He helped train many other French sculptors, such as Bourdelle, Despiau and Andreotti.
During his artistic training phase, he was influenced by Baron Gros and the artist Géricault.
In 1831, Barye gained notice with his work "Tiger Devouring a Crocodile", which marked a turning point in the representation of the animal figure. This work together with "Lion crushing a snake", now exhibited at the Louvre, mark the beginning of a series of works, in which the artist was able to combine an extraordinary scientific knowledge of nature with intense drama.
After the revolution of 1848, he was appointed director of the plaster laboratory at the Louvre and professor of drawing and modeling at the Museum. During the Second Empire, the architect Lefuel commissioned him to carry out important works at the Louvre such as the four stone groups for the facade of the Richelieu and Sully pavilions, War and Peace, Order and Strength, and the sculptural decoration of the portico of the Carrousel. His carved Napoleon III on the tympanum was destroyed during the Commune, along with his two figures of rivers on either side of this pediment. In 1860, he also executed the equestrian statue of Napoleon for the Diamond Square in Ajaccio, and then a new model in the same subject in 1866 for the city of Grenoble.
Today his works are well represented in the Louvre (the Thomy-Thierry, Camondo and Moreau-Nelaton collections) and the Bonnat Museum in Bayonne, while the finest collections outside of France can be found at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Walkers Museum of Philadelphia.
