Summary Of Theseus Fighting The Centaur Bianor

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Antoine-Louis Barye, a famous French sculptor, creates a sculpture named Theseus Fighting the Centaur Bianor in 1849. In his sculpture Barye portrays the mythic fight between Theseus, who is considered a hero, and the Centaur Bianor. This fight is described in Book XII of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The sculpture consists of two full-body characters, one in top of the other one. Barye uses bronze as medium. An important characteristic from this sculpture is that the bronze used is a shiny black. The color and medium used in this artwork provide a better contrast between light and shadow. This effect makes us appreciate the emphasis the sculptor put in each one of the characters’ musculature. Even thought, centaurs are mythic creatures Barye creates a realistic full-body portrait of one combining the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse. The sculptor creates a soft and realistic muscular texture for his characters and also creates the texture of cloth, rock and what appears to be a small bush. Bianor, the centaur, reflects a facial expression of fear because his life is being threatened. Meanwhile, Theseus displays a calmed facial expression and his body language shows us he is in control of the fight. The ground where they are standing suggests this fight is taking place in a mountain. The most notorious principal of design in this artwork is proportion; Theseus has a normal human body and Bianor’s body is proportionally similar to Theseus’ body. This sculpture has …show more content…

This sculpture has heavy influences from ancient Greek. Nudity and the emphasis in human musculature is one of the easiest ways to recognize Greek artwork other than its characteristic mythology. Contrapposto is present in both characters, Theseus and Bianor. As mentioned before this piece of artwork is an illustration from the Book XII of Ovid’s

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