Antoine-Louis Barye trained initially as a goldsmith and later studied sculpture and painting, entering the École des Beaux-Arts in 1818. Together with painter, Eugène Delacroix, he studied animals in the Paris zoo, and like his companion, was drawn to the Romanticism inherent in their exoticism and often violent behavior. Shown in plaster at the Salon of 1850, Jaguar Devouring a Hare, an unusually large work for the artist, was praised by the well-known critic, Théophile Gautier: “. . .Mr. Barye does not treat these beasts from a purely zoological point of view. . .He exaggerates, he simplifies, he idealizes the animals . . . ; he has a fiery fashion, energetic and bold, in fact like a Michelangelo of the Menagerie.” Several proofs were made prior to the first bronze edition of 1857, and it is possible that this work, recently acquired by the Museum, was among these rare, early examples. Other editions appeared during Barye’s lifetime followed by several posthumous versions cast by Barbedienne, one of which is in the collection of the Walters Art Museum. In 1850, the renowned French animalier (animal sculptor) Antoine Barye exhibited a large plaster sculpture of a jaguar devouring a hare. Its astonishing realism was based on Barye’s thorough knowledge of the animal’s musculature and bone structure, an understanding that he developed through his anatomical studies of recently deceased animals at the Paris Zoo. Barye’s skill in depicting wild animals was so impressive that he became known as the “Michelangelo of the menagerie.” Scenes of animal conflict became popular in the 19th century as the population of cities increased and European nations began to colonize the wilderness areas of the world. Influenced by 19th-century romanticism, Barye used raw animal passion as an emblem of the awe-inspiring forces of sublime nature.