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The sculpture portrays three dogs in a dynamic encounter on a rocky base. The dogs have muscular physiques and are shown in action. The central dog is dominant, rearing up with its mouth open. Another dog is lying on its back, and the third dog is standing upright and lunging forward. The sculpture is made from a dark material, likely bronze, giving it a rich brown color with a metallic sheen. The surface detailing captures the texture of the dogs' fur and muscles realistically.
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The sculpture portrays three dogs in a dynamic encounter on a rocky base. The dogs have muscular physiques and are shown in action. The central dog is dominant, rearing up with its mouth open. Another dog is lying on its back, and the third dog is standing upright and lunging forward. The sculpture is made from a dark material, likely bronze, giving it a rich brown color with a metallic sheen. The surface detailing captures the texture of the dogs' fur and muscles realistically.

National Gallery of Art · Sculpture

Bear Fleeing from Dogs

Antoine-Louis Barye

Date
model n.d., cast after 1870 by 1873
Medium
bronze
Dimensions
overall: 35.56 × 45.09 × 25.4 cm (14 × 17 3/4 × 10 in.)
Classification
Sculpture · Small Bronze
Accession number
2015.19.3859
Credit line
Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, 1873)
Time span
1851 to 1875
Department
CSD
Original NGA record Wikidata

Subjects and terms

  • French
  • mammal
  • animal
  • cast
  • Dogs
  • Bear
  • European Small Bronzes before 1900
Provenance

Purchased 1873 from the artist by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington;[1] acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art. [1] The sculpture is one of 116 bronzes acquired in two groups directly from the artist, one in 1873 and the other in 1874. According to the _Register of Bronzes Etc. Belonging to the Corcoran Gallery of Art_, the group acquired in 1873 was selected for the Corcoran by William T. Walters, the prominent Baltimore collector and a Corcoran trustee, "in company with Barye." (See: "_Register of Bronzes Etc. Belonging to the Corcoran Gallery of Art_," 1873-1946, Record Group 5.1 [COR.0005.1.RG], Gallery registrar's office records, 1869-2007, Series 1: Accessions 1869- [inclusive], Special Collections Research Center, George Washington University Libraries, Washington, DC; accessed on-line 30 November 2016: https://archive.org/details/corc_registerofbronzes).

Inscription

on the side of the base: BARYE

NGA object ID 177382. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.