Ocelot emportant un héron (Ocelot carrying off a heron)

The existence of a numbered and dated cast (private collection, Paris), confirms 1839 as the year of conception for Ocelot emportant un héron. The model was first offered in Besse's 1844 catalogue with the following comment: "Le chat tigre du nouveau monde tient emprisonné dans ses griffes le héron qui balaie la terre des ailes et dont la mort est aussi prochaine que cruelle; à voir la manière dont Barye exécute de tels animaux, ne dirait-on pas qu'il passe sa vie au milieu d'eux, et que chaque jour le rend spectateur de quelques-uns de leurs combats?" Interestingly, the felled heron seen here would re-appear the following decade in both the first and second versions of Aigle tenant un héron (see lot 78).

Ocelot emportant un héron was relatively popular during Barye's lifetime, the number of épreuves anciennes estimated to be around fifty. Posthumously, it was edited by Barbedienne with continued success. Unlike most of the modèles offered in this sale, which were acquired from Barbedienne by Zoubaloff and subsequently purchased in the latter's 1927 sale by Eduardo Guinle, the passage of Ocelot emportant un héron from Barbedienne to Guinle is unclear.