Magnificent bronze group entitled ‘Theseus and the Centaur’ by Antoine L Barye. The bronze with rich black, brown and orange patination and excellent surface detail. Raised on a naturalistic bronze plinth, signed Barye & inscribed F Barbedienne Fondeur
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Height: 41 cm
Width: 38 cm
Depth: 18 cm
Condition: Excellent Original Condition with light wear
Circa: 1875
Foundry: Ferdinand Barbedienne
Materials: Bronze
Book Ref Barye by Michel Poletti & Alain Richarme
Page No: 109
SKU: 8463
ABOUT
Antoine Louis Barye
“Theseus and the Centaur Bienor”
Barye's Thésée combattant le Centaure Biénor depicts a moment in the battle between the Lapiths of Thessaly and the Centaurs of Arcadia, when the hero Theseus saves Hippodaimia, daughter of the king of the Lapiths. The model was met with great acclaim when it was exhibited by Barye in the 1850 Paris Salon. According to Poletti and Richarme, casts that are signed A. L. BARYE, such as the present bronze, were produced by Barye himself in the early 1850's. Examples can be found in the musée du Louvre (inv. no. OA 5726) and in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 10133.4).
RELATED LITERATURE
G. F. Benge, Antoine-Louis Barye. Sculptor of Romantic Realism, University Park and London, 1984, pp. 48-9; M. Poletti and A. Richarme, Barye. Catalogue raisonné des sculptures, Paris, 2000, no. F34, p.111; W. R. Johnston and S. Kelly, Untamed: The Art of Antoine-Louis Barye, exhib. cat. The Walters Art Museum, Munich/ London/ New York, 2006, no. 63, pp. 164-5
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