Description
Two fierce hounds have seized a magnificent stag by the ear and throat. This sculpture is a variation on a work that Barye exhibited in the 1833 Paris Salon. In 1844, the firm of Besse et Cie issued a catalogue of Barye's sculptures in which the piece is described as follows: "Behold, in our opinion, one of Barye's most beautiful, arresting compositions, whose execution, even were it his only work, places him in the highest rank of artists."
Provenance
William T. Walters, Baltimore [commissioned by George A. Lucas for William T. Walters]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Inscriptions
[Signature] Inscribed possibly after casting on base: BARYE; [Transcription] Marked: modèle Lucas; [Translation] Marked: Lucas model; [Transcription] Painted beneath other text: LUCAS; [Title] Inscribed on paper label: Cerf dix cors terrassé par deux levriers d'Ecosse Modèle; [Translation] Inscribed on paper label: Stag brought down by Scottish Hounds model.
Credit
Acquired by William T. Walters