The Lion and the Snake' by Antoine-Louis Barye. Bronze

Sculpture in bronze. The lion and the snake by Antoine-Louis Barye (Paris, 1795-1875). The sculpture is manufactured after his death, mid-twentieth century, on a green marble base. It measures 42.5 cm wide, 35 cm high and 22.5 cm deep. It represents a lion fighting to death against a large snake. Antoine-Louis Barye (Paris, 1795-1875) was a French realist sculptor. Barye was one of the earliest and most representative examples of naturalism. The son of a silversmith, he acquired a taste for detail in his father's workshop. He was also a disciple of François Joseph Bosio and Antoine-Jean Gros. He worked almost always in bronze, with a preference for scenes of animals fighting (The Centaur and the Lapita...) At the same time, he picked up the romantic taste for exotic landscapes, capturing wild animals (Indian riding an elephant, Tiger devouring a gavial, etc.) He was a professor at the Museum of History in Paris, Rodin being his pupil.