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Vultures on a Tree

1810–75
Not on view
Best known as an animal sculptor, Barye also made numerous finished watercolors. This is one of a series that the Havemeyer family bequeathed to the Metropolitan in 1929 and is notable as the first drawing by the artist to enter their collection.
Signs of death and decay dominate. The vultures perch on a leafless tree with their distinctive shapes outlined against a sky reddened by the setting sun. At lower right a stripped animal skull and bones testify to a recent meal. These details have been freely painted upon textured paper to create an image both expressive and naturalistic.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Vultures on a Tree
  • Artist: Antoine-Louis Barye (French, Paris 1795–1875 Paris)
  • Date: 1810–75
  • Medium: Watercolor on wove paper
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 10 11/16 x 15 1/8 in. (27.1 x 38.4cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
  • Object Number: 29.100.596
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
Theseus Fighting the Centaur Bianor, Antoine-Louis Barye French, Bronze (sand cast), French, Paris
Theseus Fighting the Centaur Bianor
Antoine-Louis Barye
modeled 1849, cast ca. 1867
Ceramic Horn, Glazed pottery, French
Ceramic Horn
French
late 18th or early 19th century
Eastern Coast of Rügen with Shepherd, Caspar David Friedrich German, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over graphite, with white opaque watercolor; partial framing lines in pen and brown-black ink
Eastern Coast of Rügen with Shepherd
Caspar David Friedrich
1805–6
Tiger in Repose, Antoine-Louis Barye French, Oil on canvas
Tiger in Repose
Antoine-Louis Barye
ca. 1850–65
Moulin Rouge: La Goulue, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec French, Lithograph printed in four colors; three sheets of wove paper
Moulin Rouge: La Goulue
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Printer Affiches Américaines, Charles Lévy
1891

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