Antoine Louis BARYE (1796-1875) After Theseus fighting the M - Lot 106

Lot 106
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Antoine Louis BARYE (1796-1875) After Theseus fighting the M - Lot 106
Antoine Louis BARYE (1796-1875) After Theseus fighting the Minotaur (second version) Bronze with brown patina signed on the terrace. Posthumous cast iron by F. Barbedienne. Top. 58 cmBibliographie :M. POLETTI and A. RICHARME, Barye : catalogue raisonné des sculptures, p. 108 (F.32).Made for the 1843 Salon, the group of 'Theseus fighting the Minotaur' is finally presented at the 1855 World Fair. This first sold proof is now kept at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.If the jury of 1843 had seen fit to refuse this sculpture, the critics were not mistaken. As early as 1844 it was praised by Besse who saw in it "one of the most beautiful things, one of the most energetic figures that modern sculpture has produced". And Ballu, in his 1890 biography, praised "one of the masterpieces of Barye's genius, one of the masterpieces of French statuary"To revive the ancient myth, Barye knew how to look at Hellenic statuary.But far from sacrificing to the absolute canons of Ancient Greece his talent for rendering movement and strength, he combined these two aspirations to give birth to a masterpiece. The great winner retains in the effort the noble and haughty attitude befitting the hero of Athens. In contrast, the bow-tipped monster who stretches his muscles in a supreme effort appears to us only more bestial.We are therefore surprised by the vigour, the movement and the tension expressed by this group, whose composition is as clear as that of a métope ; and by the impression of grandeur which forces us to give this fifty-eight centimetre object the noble and imposing name of statue.
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