Provenance
Estate of Antoine-Louis Barye [1795-1875], Paris (?-probably 1875); Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, CA (?-1979); (Sotheby Parke Bernet, London, May 10, 1979, no. 98, sold to Muriel Butkin, Shaker Heights, OH) (1979); Muriel Butkin [1916-2008], Shaker Heights, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1979-2010); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2010-)
Accession Number
2010.168.a
Medium
watercolor with gouache, and graphite
Dimensions
Sheet: 15.5 x 23.1 cm (6 1/8 x 9 1/8 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Bequest of Muriel Butkin
Tags
Drawing Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Watercolor Graphite & Pencil Gouache French
Background & Context
Background Story
Antoine-Louis Barye (1796-1875) was a French sculptor and painter known for the precisely observed, dynamically composed animal subjects that make him one of the most accomplished animal artists of the 19th century. Landscape (recto) from c. 1823-75 depicts a landscape in the precisely observed, atmospherically composed manner that distinguishes Barye's landscape painting from the more general landscape painting of his contemporaries. Barye is best known as a sculptor, but his landscape paintings show the same precisely observed, dynamically composed manner that distinguishes his sculptural work, and Landscape (recto) shows the French landscape tradition from a uniquely sculptural perspective.
Cultural Impact
Landscape (recto) is important in the history of French painting because it demonstrates the precisely observed, atmospherically composed manner that Barye—best known as one of the most accomplished animal sculptors of the 19th century—brought to landscape painting. Barye's landscape paintings—showing the same precisely observed, dynamically composed manner that distinguishes his sculptural work—represent a uniquely sculptural perspective on landscape painting, and the c. 1823-75 painting shows this perspective at its most precisely observed.
Why It Matters
Landscape (recto) is Barye's precisely observed landscape: a landscape rendered from the uniquely sculptural perspective of one of the most accomplished animal artists of the 19th century. The c. 1823-75 painting shows the French landscape tradition from a perspective shaped by sculptural practice.
