Lion Crushing a Snake

Antoine-Louis Barye was renowned for his anatomically accurate animal sculptures, which often portray scenes of predatory violence. After this composition debuted in plaster at the 1833 Salon, the government commissioned a large bronze version to place outside the Tuileries Palace. The subject was understood as a political allegory about King Louis-Philippe’s rise to power in the July Revolution of 1830. The noble lion, the zodiac sign for July, represented the new king and the people of France, while the snake he defeats symbolized the despotic reign of his predecessor, King Charles X.

Throughout his life Barye spent hours sketching and dissecting animals at the Jardin des Plantes zoo and Museum of Natural History, colonial institutions that enabled him to study animals from around the world without leaving Paris.