{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O154696"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O154696/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JA4719/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JA4719/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JA4719","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AU0126","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JA2252","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JA4285","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JA4720","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JA4721","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O154696/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O154696","accessionNumber":"2709-1856","objectType":"Statuette","titles":[{"title":"Theseus and the Centaur Bianor","type":"generic title"},{"title":"A Combat with a Centaur","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'. \r\n\r\nThis bronze of Theseus and the Centaur Bianor 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. ","physicalDescription":"Small bronze statuette witg light green patina. A nude male figure, Theseus, is engaged in a fight with a centaur, Bianor, which it is straddling. Theseus is gripping Bianor by the neck, and about to inflict him a blow.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Antoine-Louis Barye","id":"A11705"},"association":{"text":"sculptor","id":"AAT25181"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"bronze","id":"AAT10957"}],"techniques":[{"text":"casting","id":"AAT53104"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Bronze, cast","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Myths & Legends","id":"THES49005"},{"text":"Bronze","id":"THES49033"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2016JA4719","2006AU0126","2016JA2252","2016JA4285","2016JA4720","2016JA4721"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES409053"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Statuette","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1849","earliest":"1848-01-01","latest":"1849-12-31"},"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":[{"object":{"text":"33507","id":"O145815"},"association":"Depiction"}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Width","value":"37","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"14","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"34.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions were taken by SCP on 27.10.14 for <b>Bronze Zoo: A Sculptural Menagerie</b>","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"A.L. BARYE signature cast through from the model","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Purchased from the Exposition Universelle (International Exhibition) of 1855 in Paris. An early important purchase by the V&A. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Theseus and the Centaur Bianor, bronze, Antoine-Louis Barye (1796-1875), France (Paris), ca. 1849-1855","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. F34"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Lebon, Élisabeth.<u> Dictionnaire des fondeurs de bronze d’art 1890-1950</u>. Paris, 2003."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Ovid, <u>Metamorphose</u>s ed. and trans. Frank Justus, Loeb Classical Library. London, 1939. "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Reinis, Joseph. G. T<u>he Founders and Editors of the Barye Bronzes</u>. New York, 2007. "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Reynaud, Jean. <u>Coup d’oeil sur l’exposition de sculpture</u> [Salon de 1833]. Revue enclycopedique (January 1833)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>List 1868 List of Objects in the Art Division</u>, South Kensington Museum, acquired during the Year 1856. London, 1868. p.28"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Theseus","id":"N259"},{"text":"Centaur","id":"N796"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[{"text":"Paris Exposition Universelle, 1855","id":"V929"}],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"mythology","id":"AAT55985"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["2709-1856"],"accessionNumberNum":"2709","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1856,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-06","recordCreationDate":"2008-05-15","availableToBook":true}}