Antoine Louis Barye

Antoine Louis Barye was an accomplished artist and sculptor. Barye’s work is almost exclusively studies of wild animals, but he also produced equestrian groups as well as mythological figures. His animal sculptures are usually of a violent nature, his models are technically competent and based on studies of actual wild animals, both living and dead, at the Jardin de Plantes, the botanical garden in Paris where he spent much of his time.
Antoine Louis Barye was born in Paris, France on September 24th, 1796. Barye began his career as a goldsmith and studied under sculptor Francois-Joseph Bosio and painter Baron Antoine- Jean Gros. In 1818 he was admitted to the École des Beaux Arts. In the following years he discovered his passion for drawing animals at the Jardin des Plantes, later transforming his visions into sculptures.
Barye produced no new works after 1869. Following his death in 1875 most of his plasters and models were purchased by Ferdinand Barbedienne, the famous founder whose had earlier reproduced Barye’s works during his bankruptcy. Barbedienne continued casting bronzes from Barye's original master models until after the turn of the century. All of these later, posthumous, casts are marked F. Barbedienne Founder. The casts were done with extreme attention to detail and carried on Barye's keen interest in multicolored patinas on the works. Today, most of Barye's plasters and models are the property of the Louvre. The mass of admirable work left by Barye entitles him to be regarded as one of the great animal life artists of the French school, and the refiner of a class of art which has attracted such men as Emmanuel Frémiet, Peter, Cain, and Gardet.