Antoine-Louis BaryeFrench, 1796–1875Theseus and the Minotaur
May one see it?
Yes, receiving visitors
Victoria and Albert Museum
RoomSculpture, Room 111, The Gilbert Bayes GalleryLondon, United Kingdom
On public display.
- Checked
- 7 days ago
- In this state since
- Sep 25, 2026
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
About the sculpture
There was a fashion in 19th-century France for animal studies, fed by the relative affordability of bronzes which could now be mass produced for a growing middle class keen to collect luxury goods. Antoine Louise Barye (1795-1875) exhibited his first animal sculpture at the Paris Salon of 1831, when he was dubbed an 'animalier', a maker of animals. Initially applied with deragotary overtones, this term became widely used for sculptors, of whom Barye was the first and foremost, who specialised in this genre. The influential art critic Théophile Gautier referred to him as the 'Michelangelo of the menagerie'.
Read on
This bronze of Theseus and the Minotaur was purchased from the Exposition Universelle (International Exhibition) of 1855. Although this was a popular neo-classical subject, Barye's modelling of the surfaces has a vibrancy and movement characteristic of French romantic sculpture. This group was executed relatively early in the sequence of small bronzes produced by Barye from the beginning of the 1830s onwards.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 2708-1856
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum: the museum's own open data · fetched 7 days ago
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
