Antoine Louis Barye took the subject of this sculpture from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Guests at the wedding feast of Pirithous, king of the Lapiths, and Hippodamia included gods, heroes, and the Lapiths’ neighbors, the Centaurs (half-man, half-horse beings). The Centaur Eurytion—drunk and spurred on by Mars, the god of war (angry at having been excluded)—attempted to abduct Hippodamia. Theseus and Hercules helped the Lapiths defeat the Centaurs in the ensuing battle. This plaster sculpture was a master model used to produce an edition of bronzes.