Study for a Louvre Pediment

Description In 1857, Barye designed a pediment for the western façade of the Sully Pavilion of the Louvre. His subject was Napoleon I Dominating History and the Fine Arts. He experimented using various motifs; in this drawing he shows the emperor enthroned holding a lyre. Rays emanating from his head associate him with the god Apollo. Napoleon is flanked by seated and reclining females. In the final design, the bust of Napoleon wearing a laurel crown was placed in the center flanked by female figures symbolizing History and the Fine Arts.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
1/01/2002	Treatment	examined for exhibition; cleaned; other

Exhibitions

• Untamed: The Art of Antoine-Louis Barye. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa; The Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, Palm Beach. 2007-2008.

Provenance Mme Vildieu-Barye; Fabius Frères, Paris; Walters Art Museum, 1949, by purchase.

Credit Museum purchase, 1949