Lion au serpent, no. 2: M.2-2015

Titles

Lion au serpent, no. 2
(Lion and serpent, no. 2)

Maker(s)

Sculptor: Barye, Antoine Louis

Entities

• Animal figure

Categories

• Sculpture

Description

Wild, roaring, seated male lion crushing a serpent under his right paw.

Notes

History note: Sotheby's; purchased by L. Spero for Sir Ivor Batchelor from Sotheby's on 28 February 1962, lot 4.

Legal notes

Sir Ivor and Lady Batchelor Bequest through The Art Fund

Place(s) associated

• Paris ⪼ France

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (2015-04-27) by Batchelor, Ivor, Sir and Lady

Dating

19th Century
Production date: circa AD 1833 : Original model after 1833. First bronze edition cast 1857; this version cast at an unknown date after 1857

Note

Dubbed the ‘Michelangelo of the Menagerie’ by art critic Théophile Gautier (1811–72), Barye was a Romantic realist artist based in Paris who popularised the genre of animal sculpture from the 1830s onwards. Animals were very low down in the traditional Academic hierarchy of accepted subject-matter for artists, and the term animalier (an artist specialising in animals) was coined by critics specifically for Barye as a pejorative appellation. Barye was a successful monumental sculptor, but also created hundreds of small-scale models of animals for reproduction in bronze editions for middle-class homes. His last sales catalogue of 1865 listed over 230 compositions available to order as edition bronze statuettes. Keen for accuracy, Barye studied ancient animal sculptures as well as live beasts in the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle’s menagerie, copied zoological specimens in the Musée d’Anatomie Comparée and made anatomical drawings of dead lions. Bayre’s animal portraits include single animal figures (e.g. M.19-2015) and groups of predators with prey, or in combat with each other (e.g. M.1-2015), and some with human figures (e.g. M.5-2015). The model for this bronze derives from a life-size plaster model made by Barye in 1832, which was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1833. It was later cast into bronze for Louis-Philippe (King of France from 1830 to 1848), and exhibited at the 1836 Salon (now Louvre, Paris, L.P. 1184). The composition was intended as an allegory to flatter the king with the lion symbolic of courage, strength and good kingship triumphing over evil. It also commemorated the fact that in July 1830, when the Revolution saw Louis-Philippe placed on the French throne, Leo and Hydra were the ruling constellations. Barye’s company produced different models derived from the original large sculpture at different dates and in different sizes. The model closer to the original sculpture with the lion and serpent on a flatter, less rocky surface (known as Lion au serpent, no. 1: see M.1-1944) dates from c. 1838, while the sketch model with the lion’s paw raised (known as Lion au serpent, no. 3 [esquisse]: see M.3-2015) dates from 1832. The date of the original model of the present bronze, with its much rockier surface, is unknown, but it was first cast in bronze in 1857. Although listed as No. 2, this was actually Barye’s third variant. After Barye's death, this model was one of 78 foundry models purchased at his 1876 studio sale by the Paris-based art dealer Hector-Henri-Clément Brame (1831-99) with the right to reproduce them. It is unclear whether the present version was cast during Barye's lifetime, or was a posthumous production by Brame.

School or Style

French