CAST FROM A MODEL BY ANTOINE-LOUIS BARYE, CIRCA 1870

Python Killing a Gnu was originally conceived by Barye as one of the nine compositions - four animal combat groups and five hunting scenes - that made up the elaborate surtout de table commissioned by the Duc d'Orlans and modelled between 1834 and 1838. Another cast of the bronze is in the collection of The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.