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Gallery Text

Known for his romantic and humanized portrayals of wildlife, Barye sculpted many small-scale artworks, which he later reproduced in bronze to sell to the growing middle class. After molding the original work in clay, Barye cast this plaster model, which he then reworked with more plaster and with wax. Smoother and less porous than plaster, wax allowed for a finer degree of texture and detail across the sculpture’s surface. The incisions suggesting the tiger’s fur and stripes, for example, heighten its realism and emotional force. After incorporating such features, Barye then cast an exact replica from this object in bronze, which was used as the prototype for editions and was known as the chef-modèle. The technical procedure of combining materials in the production process was unique in its time.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.1023
People
Antoine Louis Barye, French (Paris, France 1796 - 1875 Paris, France)
Title
Tiger Attacking a Peacock
Other Titles
Original Language Title: Tigre dévorant un paon
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
c. 1830-c. 1840
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/230044

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Cast plaster foundation covered in tinted wax
Dimensions
16.5 x 47.6 x 17.5 cm (6 1/2 x 18 3/4 x 6 7/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: top of base, proper left of tiger: BARYE
  • stamp: underside of base: Gozman

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Antoine Louis Barye, sold [through his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 7, 1876, no. 548]; to Ferdinand Barbedienne [through Henri Alfred Jacquemart, Pairs]. Jacques Zoubaloff, Paris, by 1925, sold [through his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June 16-17, 1927, no. 211 (bought in)]. Jerome Sonborough, sold [through his sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, October 18, 1940, no. 58; to Grenville L. Winthrop [through Martin Birnbaum], New York, NY, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.1023
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Publication History

  • Catalogue des oeuvres de feu Barye. Bronzes, aquarelles-tableaux, cires terres cuites, marbres, plâtres, auct. cat., Hôtel Drouot (Paris, France, February 7 1876 - February 12 1876), no. 548
  • Eugène Guillaume, Catalogue des Oeuvres de Barye, École Nationale des Beaux-Arts (Paris, France, 1889), no. 589
  • Oeuvres de A.-L. Barye, auct. cat., Boulevard Poissonier, no. 30 (Paris, France, 1893), p. 14
  • Charles Saunier, Barye, F. Rieder & cie (Paris, France, 1925), pl. 22
  • Catalogue des Tableaux Modernes, Acquarelles, Pastels, Dessins, etc., auct. cat., Galerie Georges Petit (Paris, July 16-July 17, 1927), repr. fig. 211
  • Chinese Sculpture, Bronzes, Jades, Paintings and Drawings, Egyptian and Persian sculpture, Pre-Columbian art; selected from the collection of Grenville Lindall Winthrop, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1943), p. 4
  • Glenn Franklin Benge, "The Sculpture of Antoine-Louis Barye in American Collections" (Thesis, University of Iowa, 1969), University Microfilms, pp. 317-318, repr. fig. 72
  • Exhibition of Sculpture, Antoine Louis Barye, 1796-1875, exh. cat., Educational Testing Service (London, England, 1972), repr., p. 41
  • Stuart Pivar, The Barye Bronzes, Antique Collector's Club Ltd. (Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, 1974), repr. p. 144
  • Jeanne L. Wasserman, ed., Metamorphoses in Nineteenth-Century Sculpture, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1975), no. 4, repr. p. 84, text p. 85, 87, and checklist p. 107
  • Jeanne L. Wasserman and Arthur Beale, Sculpture by Antoine-Louis Barye in the Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1982), no. 31, p. 78
  • Glenn Franklin Benge, Antoine-Louis Barye: Sculptor of Romantic Realism, Pennsylvania State University Press (University Park, PA and London, England, 1984), p. 76, 78-79, 132, 153, 171, 174; fig. 56
  • Stephan Wolohojian, ed., A Private Passion: 19th-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Harvard University, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press (U.S.) (New York, 2003), no. 1, pp. 48-50
  • Stephan Wolohojian, Ingres, Burne-Jones, Whistler, Renoir... La Collection Grenville L. Winthrop, exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, France, 2003), no. 1, pp. 56-57, repr. in color
  • Sebastian Smee, Frame by Frame: Unearting Hidden Treasures in the Collections of New England Museums: Tiger, tiger, burning bright, The Boston Globe (Boston, August 16, 2016), p. G3, p. G3, repr.

Exhibition History

  • Catalogue des Oeuvres de Barye, École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 01/01/1889 - 12/31/1889
  • Chinese sculpture, bronzes, jades, paintings and drawings, Egyptian and Persian sculpture, Pre-Columbian art : selected from the collection of Grenville Lindall Winthrop, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 10/01/1943 - 02/28/1944
  • Between the Empires: Géricault, Delacroix, Chasseriau--Painters of the Romantic Movement, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/30/1946 - 06/01/1946
  • Metamorphoses in 19th-Century Sculpture, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 11/19/1975 - 01/07/1976
  • A Bronze Menagerie and Other Works by Antoine-Louis Barye from the Fogg Museum's Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 09/25/1981 - 12/27/1981
  • A Private Passion: 19th-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Harvard University, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 10/23/2003 - 01/25/2004
  • For Students of Art and Lovers of Beauty: Highlights from the Collection of Grenville L. Winthrop, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/16/2004
  • HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 08 Rotation 2), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/23/2008 - 11/16/2008
  • HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 09 Rotation 2), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/16/2009 - 11/08/2009
  • HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 10 Rotation 2), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/15/2010 - 11/06/2010
  • HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 11 Rotation 2), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, 10/07/2011 - 11/05/2011
  • 32Q: 2200 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 10/30/2023

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu