Property from a Swiss Private Collection
Antoine-Louis Barye
Lion au serpent n° 1 (Lion and Snake)
Lot Closed
July 2, 03:15 PM GMT
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Antoine-Louis Barye
French
1795 - 1875
Lion au serpent n° 1 (Lion and Serpent)
signed and dated: BARYE / 1838 and stamped: BARYE 5
bronze, rich modulated yellow-gold patina with nuances of brown
26 by 34cm., 10 1/4 by 13 3/8 in.
Succession Madame Marqueste (d. Versailles 31 January 1952), wife of the sculptor Laurent-Honoré Marqueste (Toulouse 1848 - Paris 1920);
Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 6 June 1959, salle 5, Maître Boisgirard;
Sotheby's London 21 November 1995, lot 31;
private collection, Switzerland
The original and life-size plaster model of Barye’s Lion au serpent, ‘Lion and Serpent’, was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1832. The model is considered one of Barye’s most popular creations and received great praise. Subsequently, Barye made several smaller variants of the model, including this 26cm. version in bronze, which was first exhibited in 1855 at the Exposition Universelle.
The present bronze is a particularly fine cast, with lively patina, stark realism and exquisite detail. It is stamped BARYE with the number 5, which confirms that this is a lifetime cast by the artist. Such punch marks were used by the artist during the period of his partnership with the entrepreneur Emile Martin in the 1840s and 1850s; the 1847 Martin-Barye catalogue states that each bronze would be stamped and numbered.
RELATED LITERATURE
M. Poletti and A. Richarme, Barye, Catalogue raisonné des sculptures, Paris, 2000, p. 175, no. A 52
You May Also Like
