Antoine-Louis Barye - Horse Attacked by a Lion - Walters 27144

Barye was fascinated by the violence possible in nature, here expressed in the frightened eyes of the horse and the overall muscular tension.
Early 19th-century French sculptors preferred marble as a medium because they thought it better suited to their neoclassical pursuit of the idealized restraint of classical Greek sculpture. Barye broke away from this, exploiting the workability of bronze to explore its potential for portraying the highly emotional themes favored in the following decades.