Antoine Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875) Tartar... Lot 30

Antoine Louis Barye (French, 1796-1875) Tartar warrior stopping his horse Bronze with antique green patina and metallic highlights. Signed "Barye" on the base at the level of the right foreleg. Model created in 1845, posthumous proof, probably by Barbedienne. Height: 35.5 cm. Provenance: private collection, acquired from M. Mauvy, antique dealer in Loches in the 1990s. Antoine Louis Barye. A bronze sculpture of a Tatar warrior on horseback. Signed. A posthumous cast, probably by Barbedienne, of a model created in 1845. Related work: Antoine Louis Barye, Guerrier Tartare à cheval, 1845, Haut. 34,5 Larg. 35,5 cm, Musée d'Orsay, OA 6368. Bibliography: - Michel Poletti, Alain Richarme, "Barye. Catalog raisonné des sculptures", Paris, Gallimard, 2000, no. 10, p. 76; - Pierre Kjellberg, "Les bronzes du XIXe siècle, dictionnaire des sculpteurs", Paris, Editions de l'Amateur, 1987, p. 56 no. 4; - Anne Pingeot, Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, Laure de Margerie, "Catalogue sommaire illustré des sculptures", Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1986, p. 47. The "Guerrier Tartare arrêtant son cheval" (Tartar Warrior stopping his horse), a proof of which is held by the Musée d'Orsay, is an emblematic figure in Barye's Romantic oeuvre. Celebrated for his animal sculpture from the Salon of 1831 onwards with his "Lion devouring a Gharial", here he follows in the tradition of equestrian sculpture. Barye created the model in 1845, initially naming it "Cavalier chinois". He modified the model several times, taking up the horse's gait, working on its harness and inflating the helmet's bellows to reinforce its ardor. With this work, he offers a lively, synthetic image of a half-blood horse with its head down, its energy controlled by its rider. The antique castings, produced by Barye's workshop between 1858 and 1875, feature a bronze rich in copper, whose density offers a nervous chasing enhanced by a stable patina over time, whose hues vary for each copy.