Object Image

Tiger Surprising an Antelope

Barye challenged tradition when he submitted his savage animal sculptures to the Paris Salon in the 1830s. At the time, the human figure was considered the noblest subject for high art, while animals—particularly violent animals—ranked at the bottom. Despite the lowly status of animals in the artistic hierarchy, Barye's predatory tiger received a Salon medal in 1831. Commissions for both tabletop and monumental animal works followed. In the end, the sculptor would become renowned as an animalier, or animal artist.

Tiger Surprising an Antelope is one of Barye's series of predatory tiger sculptures, inspired perhaps by the arrival of the first live Bengal tiger in Paris in 1831. Barye, along wit...

model c. 1831, cast after 1855
Bronze
34.9 x 55.8 x 22.9 cm
1967.13.2
Image and text © National Gallery of Art, 2020

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National Gallery of Art
Permanent collection