Tiger at Rest

Description Although Barye is often regarded as the foremost animal sculptor of the 19th century, he also worked closely with a number of painters. He studied with the artist Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, and in the late 1820s, he joined Eugène Delacroix in sketching animals at the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes in Paris. This important city zoo was an invaluable resource for artists depicting the natural world. Barye exhibited watercolors at the beginning of his career, but it was only after his death that his oil paintings were discovered in his studio. In this unusually large example, Barye creates a fantastic image of a reclining tiger posed against the rocky, sandy terrain of the Apremont Gorge in the Fontainebleau forest.

Exhibitions

• The Works of Antoine-Louis Barye. American Art Gallery (New York), New York. 1889-1890.
• Des oeuvres du feu Barye: Bronzes, aquarelles, tableaux. Hotel Drouot, Paris. 1876.
• Triumph of French Painting: Masterpieces from Ingres to Matisse. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach; Dayton Art Institute, Dayton; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo. 2000-2002.
• 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 Hector Brame; "Vente Barye," Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 5-6, 1876, no. 95; Private collection, Reims [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Montaignac [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; William T. Walters, Baltimore, November 28, 1884, by purchase [George A. Lucas as agent]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Signature] Painted in red at lower right: BARYE; [Transcription] Stamped from red wax seal on stretcher: VENTE BARYE

Credit Acquired by William T. Walters, 1884