A lioness
Antoine-Louis Barye, best known for his fierce bronze animal sculptures, shifts gears here to capture a surprisingly relaxed lioness in paint. Signed and dated '73 in the top corner, this Romantic-era piece shows the big cat lounging on a dusty plain against a hazy blue sky, her gaze fixed intently on something just out of frame. While Barye usually immortalized animals in the middle of a dramatic hunt, here he offers a rare, quiet moment of a predator at rest, proving that even the kings of the jungle need a nap sometimes.
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