Eagles and Prey

Eagles and Prey stands as the oldest public sculpture in any New York City park. Cast in Paris in 1850 by the French artist Christophe Fratin, it arrived in Central Park in 1863 as a gift from the manufacturing magnate Gordon Webster Burnham. The bronze group depicts a violent scene of two eagles descending upon a mountain goat. While the park was designed to be a peaceful, pastoral escape, this sculpture introduced a stark and primal energy that contrasted with the surrounding landscape.