Doha Diary
Antoine-Louis Barye:
Le Michel-Ange de la MEnagerie
F
ANTOINE-LOUIS BARYE, 1795 - 1875 THESEUS AND THE MINOTAUR Estimate: 200,000 EUR 300,000 EUR ($289,600-434,400 / QR1,052,570-1,578,860)
or a sculptor, there can be no higher praise than to be compared to Michelangelo, the greatest artist of the Renaissance. This was the honour bestowed upon artist Antoine-Louis Barye (1795-1875) by one of the leading French art critics of the nineteenth century. Looking at the selection of fifty-one animalier sculptures by Barye that feature in Sotheby’s sale of the Fabius Freres Collection in Paris on October 26 and 27, it is easy to understand such a prestigious moniker. With consummate skill, Barye could turn his hand to any depiction of the animal kingdom, from the elephants and wild cats of Africa to Turkish horses and birds of prey. The drama of the chase lent itself to a fluid, and on many occasions, dramatic rendition. Barye’s reputation has been judged on the superb bronze casts made during his lifetime. The auction offers an unprecedented opportunity to acquire some of the finest casts of Barye’s oeuvre. The sculptor was championed by the famous art dealer, who was instrumental in bringing back into fashion a taste for nineteenth-century eclecticism and style during the early 20th century. He had an eye for quality and sought only the very best. Considered the inventor and undisputed master of animalier sculpture, Barye created an exceptional oeuvre parallel to that of his friend, the painter Eugene Delacroix. Although Barye studied with some of the leading artists of the age, the most formative lessons he undertook were his own visits to the Paris zoo, the Jardin des Plantes. During the early years of his career, Barye would arrive at the zoo as early as 5 am in the morning to sketch. A sympathetic keeper let him in out-of-hours and even gave the hungry artist breakfast from the bears’ provisions! Barye was ambitious to make his mark on the art world and to achieve this he took up a
84 Qatar Today
september 2011