D'après Antoine Louis Barye (1796-1875) - Sculpture, Fou de Rome - 15.9 cm - Bronze

Description
Antoine-Louis Barye (French, Paris 1795-1875 Paris) Roman Fool (Petit fou de Rome) modeled probably around 1874, executed after 1875
Dimensions: 6 1/4 × 2 3/4 × 2 in | 15.9 × 7 × 5.1 cm
Condition: Very good!
Barye's model of Le Petite Fou de Rome, or Roman Fool, is an interesting sculpture created around 1874 and cast in bronze shortly thereafter. Both Ballu and Pivar suggest in their books that Barye cast this model directly from an authentic Tanagra figure, which would explain the fact that neither sculpture is signed. This would also coincide with the excavations in the Boeotian city of Tanagra in the 1870s, where a large number of these figures were discovered, which would likely have piqued Barye's interest.
Antoine-Louis Barye's masterful animal sculptures—both miniatures and monumental works—earned him commissions from aristocrats and royalty in France and made him a prominent member of Les Animaliers, a group of French artists specializing in the realistic depiction of animals. Barye's animal portrayals, such as the Tiger Surprising an Antelope (1857), testify to the artist's excellent anatomical knowledge. This skill earned him the admiration of Auguste Rodin, who briefly studied with Barye at the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle. After initial training in metalwork by his father, a goldsmith, Barye studied under the master goldsmith Martin-Guillaume Biennais and the sculptor François-Joseph Bosio before attending the École des Beaux-Arts.