  About the Artwork
  
  
  Barye was a keen observer of the natural behavior of animals. Here he treats the romantic subject of a struggle to the death in the animal kingdom. In startling anatomical detail, he portrays the victor and the vanquished not only as an allegory of life and death but as an accurate rendition of exotic animals and their behavior.
This is the original plaster exhibited by Barye in Paris in 1831 that launched his reputation.
  
  
  Title
  Tiger Devouring a Gavial
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1831
  
  Artist
  Antoine Louis Barye
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1796-1875
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  French
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Plaster with polychrome and patinated decoration
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 16 7/8 × 41 3/4 × 16 1/2 inches (42.9 × 106 × 41.9 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Sculpture
  
  
  Department
  European Sculpture and Dec Arts
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Horace E. Dodge Memorial Fund and Eleanor Clay Ford Fund
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  1983.11
  
  
  Copyright
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