41 ANTOINE-LOUIS BARYE
French (Paris), 1796-1875
Python Killing a Gnu,
1834-1835
Plaster retouched with red wax
27.9 cm (11 in.)
Inscribed on the base: BARYE
85.SE.48
Barye was the greatest sculptor of animal bronzes in the nineteenth century, as well
as an accomplished draftsman, a leading watercolorist, and a member of the Barbizon
school of landscape painters. His work in all media is characterized by his scientific
observation of natural forms and often emphasizes the violent and predatory aspects
of his subjects, placing him firmly within the French Romantic movement. In the late
1820s, Barye began what would become a lifelong practice of making drawings of
animals kept in captivity at the zoo of the Jardin des Plantes, as well as of specimens
and skeletons preserved in the Laboratoire d'Anatomie Comparee at the Musee ;
d'Histoire Naturelle. He also attended lectures given by French naturalists and
read scholarly treatises on zoology and animal anatomy. His intensive study of the
animal world allowed him to render accurately the movements and musculature of
his preferred subjects—exotic wild beasts engaged in savage struggle. By means of
such dramatic themes, Barye elevated the status of the animal bronze to the level
of more traditional, academic subjects taken from the Bible, mythology, or history.
In 1834 the due d'Orleans commissioned Barye to produce nine small bronze
groups as the main elements of an elaborate surtout de table, or table centerpiece,
for the Palais des Tuileries. The series, which took Barye five years to complete, was
composed of five hunting scenes and four animal combats, including the Python
Killing a Gnu. The Museum's plaster and red wax model for this bronze represents
a python coiled around the body of a collapsed gnu and biting into its neck as it gasps
its last breath. The pose of the gnu, with its head stretched back, mouth open, and
nostrils flaring, adds pathos to the violent theme. Barye's mastery of realistic detail—
for instance, the cross-hatching on the snake's slippery body and the parallel lines that
suggest the shaggy hide of the gnu—emphasizes the raw beauty of these animals as they
engage in a deadly fight for survival. PAF
114 EUROPEAN SCULPTURE
