Antoine Louis Barye (1795-1875) - Lot 143

Antoine Louis Barye (1795-1875) Lion with snake, known as the Lion of the Tuileries Model created in 1833 Bronze with brown-green patina Signed "BARYE" on the front below the right paw Dim. 37 x 46.5 x 26.5 cm Provenance: former collection of painter Léon Bertier, by descent Related works : - Antoine Louis Barye, Lion au serpent, plaster group, 1832, signed and dated "BARYE / 1832" on the plinth of the terrace, H. 135 x 178.5 x 101 cm, Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts, inv. no. H 2457 - Antoine Louis Barye, Lion au serpent (Lion des Tuileries), 1832, bronze, signed "BARYE / 1832" on the front of the terrace, bears the founder's stamp "AD" near the lion's tail, bears the founder's mark "FONDU PAR HONORÉ GONON / ET SES DEUX FILS / 1835" on the reverse, H. 135 x W. 178 x D. 96 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. no. RF 1516. Related literature -Michel Poletti, Alain Richarme, Barye, le catalog raisonné des sculptures, Paris, Gallimard, 2000, model listed under no. A 51, p. 174. Launched by the success of the Paris Salon of 1831, Antoine Louis Barye (1796-1875) confirmed the expectations raised at the following exhibition with an impressive plaster cast of Lion with Snake. Although this type of episode had already been illustrated by painters, it was unprecedented for a sculptor. The work is as striking for the violence of its subject as for its virtuosity and realism. This naturalistic approach coincided with the arrival of five African lions and eight lionesses at the Museum's Menagerie following the French takeover of Algiers on November 4, 1830. A political reading of the work has also been proposed, identifying the lion as a symbol of the new regime of the July Monarchy - born under the auspices of this zodiacal sign - which in 1830 put down all attempts at revolt. Le Lion au serpent occupies a singular place in the sculptor's career, since its success led the king to commission a marble copy, eventually abandoned in favor of a bronze version, destined to be installed in front of the Palais des Tuileries in 1836. Our rare proof is a reduction of slightly less than a third of the bronze copy in the Musée du Louvre, cast by Honoré Gonon in 1835. It precisely reproduces all the details of the plaster cast from the 1833 Salon, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon. At Barye's death sale in 1876, Hector Brame purchased this version, distinguished by its naturalistic terrace, for a posthumous half-size edition (H. 58 cm). There is no formal record of an edition in our size in the literature on the Lion des Tuileries. At most, we can mention that the Atelier de Barye cast a few rare examples between 1857 and 1875, with no indication of size. It should be noted that, at the 1855 Exposition Universelle, the sculptor presented a unique proof described as "Le Lion des Tuileries, en raccourci" ("The Lion of the Tuileries, foreshortened"). Our version features an unusual stamp with a star.