Ape Riding A Gnu. Antoine-louis Barye - 1796 – 1875

Bronze with strongly nuanced autumn leaf patina, signed on the front of the terrace “BARYE”. Old proof, called Posthumous after his death in 1875. Dimensions: Height 22.8cm - Terrace width 25cm (from the horns to the tail of the Wildebeest 27.2cm) - Depth at the terrace 8.3cm (from one to the other of the elbows of the Monkey 9.2cl). Beautiful execution with very prominent details and a very beautiful patina. Its assembly with large screws is typical of the last quarter of the 19th century. The first bronze edition of the “ Ape riding a gnu ” group dates from 1840, by Barye himself, who then had his own foundry. This subject is inspired by a drawing by the English painter Thomas Landseer (1795-1880), which shows an orangutan riding on a wildebeest resting its front legs on a partially submerged rock. Barye recomposed this drawing, now kept at the Musée du Petit-Palais in Paris. Barye would have wanted to make fun of classic equestrian sculpture. He also deviated a little from Landseer's original design, in particular by giving a more equine appearance to his wildebeest. It should be noted that due to its most atypical subject, the  Ape riding a gnu was published in very few copies, which makes it a very rare subject; in fact this group was very little published during the artist's lifetime, the number of copies sold is relatively low, probably around fifty copies and that of the posthumous fonts would be of the same order. Related work: Antoine-Louis Barye, Ape riding a gnu , bronze, Paris, Musée du Louvre, OA5772 Bibliographic reference: -Michel Poletti, Alain Richarme, Barye, le catalog raisonné des sculptures, Paris, Gallimard, 2000, model listed under number A1, page 121, reproduced no. 75. -Pierre Kjellberg les éditions de l'amateur 1987 "The bronzes of the 19th century" photograph page 77
Famous for his animal sculptures, Antoine-Louis Barye (1795-1875) is the son of a goldsmith, who trained in metalworking with a military equipment manufacturer and with Jacques-Henri Fauconnier. In 1818, he entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and apprenticed in the workshop of the sculptor François Joseph Bosio and the painter Jean-Antoine Gros. After several failures at the Grand Prix de Rome, Barye slammed the door of the Beaux-Arts in 1825. He then turned to animal sculpture which he brought back into fashion. With his friend Delacroix, he regularly went to the menagerie of the Natural History Museum to study and observe the animals. It was in 1831 that Barye became known to the general public by exhibiting the Tiger Devouring a Gharial at the Salon (Louvre), a work depicting a violent combat of “impressive virtuosity”. Two years later, he triumphed with the Lion with a Serpent in plaster, which was also successfully exhibited in its bronze version during the Salon of 1836. Preferring bronze to marble considered too cold, the artist multiplied the statuettes and small animal groups that he melts and chisels himself. After a difficult period, the Second Empire gave it a second wind. Barye sculpts animals like never before. First, they are the subject of the sculpture, not a mere prop. Then, the artist relies on a precise and faithful analysis of nature.

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