English: Although Barye is often regarded as the foremost animal sculptor of the 19th century, he also worked closely with a number of painters. He studied with the artist Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, and in the late 1820s, he joined Eugène Delacroix in sketching animals at the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes in Paris. This important city zoo was an invaluable resource for artists depicting the natural world. Barye exhibited watercolors at the beginning of his career, but it was only after his death that his oil paintings were discovered in his studio. In this unusually large example, Barye creates a fantastic image of a reclining tiger posed against the rocky, sandy terrain of the Apremont Gorge in the Fontainebleau forest.