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Today at the Museum

May 19, 2013

China Art Cart

Noon – 2 p.m.

Theseus Slaying the Centaur Bianor
Title:Theseus Slaying the Centaur Bianor
Artist:Antoine-Louis Barye
F. (Ferdinand) Barbedienne

Date:c. 1850 (modeled, cast c. 1891)
Creation Place:Europe, France
Credit Line:Gift of the Heirs of Louis W. Hill, Sr.: Mr. Louis W. Hill, Jr., Mr. Jerome...
Accession Number:55.11a,b
This monumental bronze of the mythical hero Theseus slaying the centaur Bianor during the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs was purchased by the railroad baron James J. Hill for his house on Summit Avenue in St. Paul. The plaster model for this figural group was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1850, although this version was probably cast in 1891, the year that Hill purchased the sculpture from the Paris bronze founder Barbedienne.