Panther Seizing a Stag

Antoine-Louis Barye was the foremost animal sculptor of the nineteenth century. This and two more bronzes in the exhibition capture the frenzy of the predators and the terror of their prey during stirring combat. Barye, who combined in his work profound knowledge of classical art with a precision in rendering anatomy, was fascinated by the unrestrained violence of animals. He drew from life at the menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and studied dissected specimens. He often used watercolors as preparatory studies for his sculptures. In the late 1830s, Barye started to cast his bronzes serially. The production continued after his death and into the twentieth century.