"The lion has died. Make haste. We don't have much time. I'll meet you there": A note from Delacroix to Barye in 1829.

The two companions spent hours studying and sketching the animals in the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes. Barye was probably the greatest contributor to the popularisation of this particular genre: animal sculpture. It soon became all the rage in the 19th century, when art lovers would buy these statuettes as trinkets to decorate their bourgeois homes. Large art foundries such as the Barbédienne and Susse signed agreements with the sculptors. The genre continued into the 20th century with Pompon and Sandoz...