{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O111239"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O111239/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BK5957/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BK5957/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BK5957","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BB2472","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O111239/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O111239","accessionNumber":"2708-1856","objectType":"Statuette","titles":[{"title":"Theseus and the Minotaur","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"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'. \n\nThis 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. ","physicalDescription":"Bronze statuette of Theseus and the Minotaur","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Barye, Antoine-Louis","id":"A11705"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"bronze","id":"AAT10957"}],"techniques":[{"text":"cast","id":"x32615"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Bronze, cast","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Myths & Legends","id":"THES49005"},{"text":"Bronze","id":"THES49033"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2006BK5957","2006BB2472"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"111","id":"THES49918"},"free":"","case":"10","shelf":"3","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Statuette","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1843","earliest":"1843-01-01","latest":"1843-12-31"},"association":{"text":"modelled","id":"x30779"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"1850-1855","earliest":"1850-01-01","latest":"1855-12-31"},"association":{"text":"cast","id":"x32615"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Weight","value":"12.18","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"21/10/2013","earliest":"2013-10-21","latest":"2013-10-21"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"45","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Executed relatively early in the sequence of small bronzes produced by A-L Barye from the beginning of the 1830s onwards. This cast, shown as the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1855, was probably produced and marketed through the business he ran between 1845 and 1857 with Emile Martin for the replication of his compositions.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Bronze statuette of Theseus and the Minotaur by Antoine-Louis Barye, France (Paris), modelled in 1843, cast in about 1850-55.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1856. <u>In</u>: <u>Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I</u>. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 28."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Poletti, M. and Richarme, A. <u>Barye. Catalogue raisonné des sculptures</u>. Paris: 2000, cat.no. F31."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Trusted, Marjorie, ed. <u>The Making of Sculpture. The Materials and Techniques of European Sculpture</u>. London: 2007, p. 60, pl. 96a."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Theseus","id":"N259"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Minotaur","id":"x39776"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"'American and European Art and Design 1800-1900' \r\n\r\nAlthough this was a popular neo-classical subject, Barye's modelling of the surfaces has a vibrancy and movement characteristic of French romantic sculpture. The Theseus was executed relatively early in the sequence of small bronzes produced by Barye from the beginning of the 1830s onwards. Most were animal subjects, prompting Gautier's description of him as the \"Michelangelo of the menagerie\".  This cast, shown at the 1855 Paris exhibition, was probably produced and marketed through the business he ran between 1845 and 1857 with Emile Martin for the replication of his compositions.","date":{"text":"1987-2006","earliest":"1987-01-01","latest":"2006-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["2708-1856"],"accessionNumberNum":"2708","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1856,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LW8453"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2005-04-18","availableToBook":false}}