Lot Essay
Barye's model of Theseus slaying the Centaur was originally designed in 1849 for the Minister of the Interior and was exhibited in plaster at the Salon the following year. A fifty inch version of the model, also cast by Barbedienne, was placed on top of the Barye Memorial, erected in 1894 on the Ile de la Cité, Paris, indicating the importance of this work in the sculptor's oeuvre.