In addition to depicting animals at rest and pursuing prey in his watercolors, Barye studied lions and tigers in more playful moments, such as when they roll onto their backs, making vulnerable their undersides as they twist and stretch. This sheet is one of at least half a dozen watercolors devoted to a tiger rolling over in a rocky landscape. The pose of the tiger is almost identical to that in another watercolor (Zieseniss B15), suggesting the artist may have traced the animal and reused the outline to replicate the pose, changing only the setting.
Signed in pen and brown ink at lower right: "Barye".
Chéramy, Paul Arthur, former owner.
Beurdeley, Alfred, 1847-1919, former owner.
Schoeller, M., former owner.
Zoubaloff, Jacques, former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
Barye, Antoine-Louis, Baillio, Joseph, and Wildenstein Company. The Wild Kingdom of Antoine-Louis Barye, 1795-1875 : A Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the Wildlife Conservation Society, November 4-December 9, 1994 / [exhibition Curated and Catalogued by Joseph Baillio]. New York: Wildenstein, 1994, no. 24.
Stampfle, Felice, and Cara D. Denison. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Thaw. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1975, no. 76.
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 7, repr.
Zieseniss, Charles-Otto, and Barye, Antoine Louis. Les Aquarelles De Barye : Étude Critique Et Catalogue Raisonné / Charles Otto Zieseniss. Paris: Librarie Centrale Des Beaux-Arts, C. Massin, 1954, B14.