Taureau attaqué par un tigre (Bull attacked by a tiger)

The present lot is a fine example of a more complete modèle. Close examination reveals the points where the monteur-repareur has assembled the various individual sand-cast sections of the model and then gone a stage further by filing down the heads of the protruding assembly pins, filling the joints and concealing the areas with a dark patina. The ultra fine sand used by Barye in the casting process allowed for a resulting bronze impression that was extremely faithful to the original model. Here, this is illustrated not only by the precise inscriptions delineating the skin texture and movement of each animal, but by the loosely-modelled naturalistic base, where one almost has the impression of the artist's thumbs pressing into the wet clay.

Taureau attaqué par un tigre first appears in Besse's 1844 catalogue with the following description: "Acharné sur sa proie, l'animal féroce a déjà enfoncé ses griffes aiguës dans les chairs de son ennemi, qui s'affaisse douleureusement comme dompté par des souffrances qui dépassent toutes ses forces". Poletti and Richarme estimate the total number of casts of the model during Barye's lifetime to be less than thirty. After his death, the model was edited repeatedly by Barbedienne up until as late as 1925.