Antoine-Louis Barye

There is wear to the patina consistent with age and there is a casting joint on the neck of the horse. There is also a small fracture on the spear at the joint with the Cavalier's right arm. Otherwise the condition is very good.
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This model relates to the Lion Hunt group which formed part of the complex surtout de table of the duc d'Orléans commissioned from Aimé Chenavard and Barye in 1834. It is even more closely related to Barye's Two Arab Horsemen Killing a Lion as the composition is simplified to include only one horseman thereby focussing the attention on the fatal thrust of the spear into the throat of the lion. During the 1830's Barye displayed a genius for re-working and re-inventing his models to transform the composition and express alternative narratives. The posture of the present horse is also found in Barye's Horse Attacked by a Lion. However, there the horse is changed by a twist of the head into a victim with no human protector and the lion has become the victor.

RELATED LITERATURE
M. Poletti & A. Richarme, Barye. Catalogue raisonnée des sculptures, Paris, 2000, p. 84, no. F15; W. Johnston and S. Kelly, Untamed: The Art of Antoine-Louis Barye, New York, 2006, pp.26-41 & 125