Lion Crushing a Serpent

Antoine-Louis Barye created a life-size plaster cast of Lion écrasant un Serpent for the 1833 Paris Salon. The government commissioned a replica to place in the garden of the Tuileries, which caused a member of the Academy to comment: “Are the Gardens . . . to become a Menagerie?” This piece was one of Barye’s most popular animal sculptures, and he offered reproductions in two different sizes [see 1983.90.202].