Ocelot Carrying Off a Heron

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Ocelot Carrying Off a Heron

Artist Antoine-Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875)

Place of OriginFrance

Datemodel about 1845; cast about 1845-1847

Dimensions7 1/16 × 12 1/2 × 6 1/2 in. (17.9 × 31.8 × 16.5 cm)

Mediumbronze

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1991.58

Not on View

Label TextTransporting the viewer into an exotic tableau of beast versus bird, renowned French sculptor Antoine-Louise Barye depicts a graphic scene of an ocelot—a small wild cat native to South and Central America—dragging a lifeless heron. Known for creating small bronze sculptures of exotic animals, Barye had a great eye for detail, which can be seen particularly well on the feathers of the heron’s right wing and the ocelot’s textured coat. The sculpture carries a great sense of movement and action: the ocelot crouches with coiled power in her compact, muscular form as she asserts her power over her prey.Published ReferencesBallu, Roger, L'oeuvre de Barye, Paris, 1890, pp. 88-90, repr.; 1847-1848 price list pp. 161-163.

Pivar, Stuart, The Barye Bronzes, Woodbridge, England, 1974, no. A 86, p. 265; 1865 pirce list pp. 263-270, no. 89; 1893 Barbedienne price list, pp. 277-281.

Wasserman, Jeanne L., Sculpture by Antoine-Louis Barye in the Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 1983, pp. 86-87.

Benge, Glenn F., Antoine-Louis Barye, Sculptor of Romantic Realism, University Park, Pennsylvania and London, 1984, pp. 6, 76, 112, 164, fig. 101.

Washington, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Antoine-Louis Barye, the Corcoran Collection, 1988, fig. 77, p. 84, repr.

"Principales acquisitions des musées en 1991," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, v. 119, no. 1478, Mar. 1992, p. 112.

The Toledo Museum of Art Annual Report, July 1, 1990-June 30, 1991, Toledo, 1991, p. 20, repr. (col.).

Comparative ReferencesSee also Barye et cie, Catalogue des bronzes de Barye, Années 1847-1848, Paris (rue de Boulogne no. 6), 1847, Deuxième Série, no. 59, price 220 francs.