Tiger Devouring a Gavial

Artist: Antoine-Louis Barye, French, 1796–1875
Date: 1831
Material: Bronze
made in: Paris, Île-de-France region, France, Europe
Classification: Metalwork, sculpture
Collection: Modern and Contemporary Art
Current Location: On View, Gallery 205
Dimensions: 7 3/4 x 19 1/2 x 8 in. (19.7 x 49.5 x 20.3 cm)
Credit Line: Museum Purchase
Rights: Public Domain
Object Number: 256:1915

NOTES

A tiger grips its claws around a young gavial (a type of crocodile native to India) and devours it as the reptile, in agony, shows its fangs; a turtle emerges from beneath the tiger’s right foreleg. Antoine-Louis Barye carefully studied the anatomy of tigers in the Paris zoo, the Jardin des Plantes, and succeeds in rendering the tense energy of the large cat’s form. This bronze is one of several smaller versions of a successful larger sculpture.

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