Large Lion

Description "Large Lion" shows a monumental lion staring directly at the viewer. Barye places the animal against an expansive landscape and an almost surreal orange sunset. This watercolor demonstrates well Barye's idiosyncratic technique of building up his surfaces in a manner similar to the way he built up clay in his sculptures. The analogy between his watercolors and sculptures was noted by several contemporary commentators. Philippe Burty, for example, likened his watercolors to "painted low reliefs," ("Ventes d'Aquarelles, de Dessins et de Tableaux," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, February 1, 1859). Here, Barye uses a scraper to render the whiskers and mane of the lion in a "sgraffito" technique, while his fingerprints are discernible in a passage of pink watercolor at top right.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
6/13/1978	Treatment	mounted
6/07/1989	Treatment	examined for exhibition; other
1/01/2002	Treatment	loss compensation; examined for exhibition; mounted; other

Exhibitions

• Exposition Barye. École des beaux-arts, Paris, Paris; École des beaux-arts, Paris, Paris. 1875-1889.
• The Works of Antoine-Louis Barye. American Art Gallery (New York), New York. 1889-1890.
• A Connoisseur's Portfolio: Nineteenth-century Drawings and Watercolors in the Walters Art Gallery. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1983.
• The Essence of Line: French Drawings from Ingres to Degas. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma. 2005-2006.
• From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2014-2016.

Provenance Barye Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 7-12, 1876, lot 166; Hector Brame (1831-1899), Paris; William T. Walters, Baltimore, January 27, 1887, by purchase [George A. Lucas as agent]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions "Barye" at lower left edge in red watercolor; "63" in graphite, verso; "G. Lucas" in graphite, verso; "Vente Barye" on reverse of original mounting, red wax seal; "444" in crayon on reverse of original mounting

Credit Acquired by William T. Walters, 1887