CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Lion with a Snake

sculpture by Antoine-Louis Barye and Honoré Gonon

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 24, 2025
Entity authorityQ15935044 ↗
Source-derived summary

Lion with a Snake is an 1832 sculpture by Antoine-Louis Barye. It measures 1.35 by 1.78 by 0.96 metres (4 ft 5 in × 5 ft 10 in × 3 ft 2 in).

History

The original plaster, created in 1832, was exhibited at Salon in Paris and is in the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. It was cast in bronze using the lost-wax process in 1835 by Honoré Gonon}.

The original cast was acquired by Louis Philippe I. After being exhibited in the Tuileries Gardens from 1836 to 1911, it is now the Louvre. A stone version is located in the Tuileries.

Another bronze cast was made in 1891, and was the first bronze statue installed in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia the following year, where it is known as Lion Crushing a Serpent.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Lion with a Snake” as sculpture by Antoine-Louis Barye and Honoré Gonon. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Lion, Snake and sculpture.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1832, 1835, 1836, 1911—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1832. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Lion, Snake and sculpture providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Lion with a Snake”, the useful work is to connect “sculpture by Antoine-Louis Barye and Honoré Gonon” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 24, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q15935044. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1832, 1835, 1836 and 1911.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Lion with a Snake”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Lion with a Snake primary sources, Lion with a Snake archive and Lion research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lion with a Snake”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Lion with a Snake” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.