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Description: LION ET TIGRE QUI MARCHENT (AVEC PLINTHES RECTANGULAIRES), (A WALKING LION AND TIGER, ON RECTANGULAR BASES)

measurements note
lion: 22 by 39.5cm., 8 5/8 by 15 1/2 in. tiger: 21 by 39.5cm., 8 1/4 by 15 1/2 in.

both signed: BARYE, inscribed: F. BARBEDIENNE. FONDEUR., and with the gold FB
lion inscribed on underside base 45ii and faintly 656, inscribed in ink 4439s
tiger inscribed on underside of base 53kk, inscribed in ink 4364


bronze, dark brown and green patina

NOTE

The model of the Lion qui marche seems to owe it's inspiration to two sources. One is an earlier model by Barye himself, the bronze lion cast in high relief at the foot of the Colonne de Juillet in the Place de la Bastille, Paris. The other, noted by Benge, is an antique walking lion in the Museo Pio-Clementino, illustrated in Visconti's Musée Pie-Clémentin, tav. XXIX.

The classical allusion is very interesting in the oeuvre of an artist celebrated for his Romanticism. The magnificent lion relief of the Colonne would have been completed by 1840, and seems to have inspired Barye to continue on the theme with the Lion qui marche and its pendant Tigre, both dating to 1841. The Colonne model differs from the Lion qui marche in the raised tail and the forward left front foot, but is close in attitude. A sketch for the Colonne model was also edited by Barbedienne.

In the Vente Barye of 1876 both models of the Lion qui marche and the Tigre qui marche were purchased and then edited by the Barbedienne foundry. It is nonetheless unusual to find the bronzes still paired (they had occasionally been offered as pendants in Barye sales catalogues) and even more so a pair bearing the special edition gold FB stamp, which, according to Poletti & Richarme, dates the casts to between 1876 and 1889.

Pivar relates these models to the decorative arts production in Barye's oeuvre, noting their stylized poses and their pairing which 'implies a decorative intent.' The elision of the decorative and the fine arts in this pair of wild cats makes them especially emblematic of the Barye's innovative intentions and style.

The plaster model for the Tigre is in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.

RELATED LITERATURE
Poletti & Richarme (2000), pp.50, 187 & 198-99,.A61 & A70; Benge, p.84-85; Pivar, p.27