“Everybody knows that Barye is a great sculptor… but what is less known is that he is also a remarkable painter.”
- Gustave Planche, 19th century art critic
The present work, which was featured in his 1875 posthumous retrospective, is a rare example of a Barye oil, and the only work showing a cougar hunting a bird. The boldly brushed landscape is characteristic of Barye’s work in the Forest of Fontainebleau, where he joined a colony of artists in the nearby village of Barbizon in 1841. In Barbizon, Barye met Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867), who considered him the “greatest artist of the age” and he also collaborated with Camille Corot (1796-1875). In fact, it is believed that Barye sketched the lion, the leopard and the wolf in Corot’s Dante and Virgil (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).