'Thesée Combattant le Centaure Bianor' ('Theseus Fighting the Centaur Bianor'), Cast by Ferdinand Barbedienne

Object Description

A Fine Patinated Bronze Group, Entitled ‘Thesée Combattant le Centaure Bianor’ (‘Theseus Fighting the Centaur Bianor’), Cast by Ferdinand Barbedienne, From the Model By Antoine Louis Barye (1795-1875).

Signed ‘A. L. BARYE’ and stamped ‘F. BARBEDIENNE’.

The model conceived Circa 1850. This example cast as part of a limited edition by Barbediene, France, Circa 1880.

The subject of Theseus Fighting the Centaur Bianor an incident from the battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs described in Book XII of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

The plaster model of ‘Theseus Fighting the Centaur Bianor’ was exhibited at the Salon in 1850 (no. 3171). The group was edited posthumously by Barbedienne in four reductions, this being an example of the smallest size. Other examples are held in the Musée du Louvre (inv. no. OA 5726), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 10133.4) and the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (inv. no. 2014.136.279)

Object Literature

G. F. Benge, Antoine-Louis Barye. Sculptor of Romantic Realism, London, 1984, pp. 48-9.

M. Poletti and A. Richarme, Barye. Catalogue raisonné des sculptures, Paris, 2000, no. F33, p.109.

W. R. Johnston and S. Kelly, Untamed: The Art of Antoine-Louis Barye, exhib. cat. The Walters Art Museum, Munich/ London/ New York, 2006, no. 63, pp. 164-5

Object Details