File:Antoine-Louis Barye - Theseus Slaying the Centaur.jpg

Identifier: americanartamer01mont (find matches)
Title: American art and American art collections; essays on artistic subjects
Year: 1889 (1880s)
Authors: Montgomery, Walter
Subjects: Art Artists Art
Publisher: Boston, E.W. Walker & co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
THESEUS SLAYING THE CENTAUR. Bronze Group by Antoine Louis Barye.Engraved on Wood by George Andrew, from a Photograph. 126 AMERICAN ART In the two last-named works the armor and trappings are also worthy of special notice, as they giveproof of the conscientious study which the artist devoted to these details in his desire for realistictruth and historical correctness. To those who know the value of a comparative study of art, itwill be most interesting to compare Baryes horses with antique specimens, such as the horses in theParthenon frieze, and the head of a horse of Hyperion, casts of which are to be found in the Hall ofAntique Sculpture in the same Gallery. Baryes fame as a sculptor rests chiefly on his animals. But his statues of historical personages,such as those just mentioned, are also of the first order, and in his compositions illustrative ofmythology and legend he shows a superlative skill in the modelling of the human figure. At the
Text Appearing After Image:
Lion and Horse. same time these works exhibit the versatility of his genius in a most brilliant light; for while all ofthem are equally realistic, the difference in the treatment of the classical subjects from that of thoseof a romantic nature is apparent at a glance. The grand group of Theseus slaying the Centaur, thelargest in the collection, measuring four feet three inches by four feet, is a superb example of theartists interpretation of classical mythology. The horse portion of the centaur (whom visitors tothe Gallery may compare with the centaur in the group No. 49 in the Hall of Antique Sculpture) issublime in its action, and quite as much so is the calm expression of the hero who, bending back thecentaurs head by the throat, is about to brain him with his rude weapon. The fine genius of thesculptor in thus depicting the severity of overpowering might in the hero of his group, is also shownin Theseus and the Minotaur. Erect, with legs apart, and unyielding to the grasp of the m

Note About Images