European Sculpture & Works of Art 900-1900

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Lot 77
  • 77

Pierre-Jules Mêne French, 1810-1879

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Description

  • Pierre-Jules Mêne
  • Groupe chiens en defaut - Valet Louis XV (A Louis XV Huntsman on horseback with hounds)
  • signed:  P.J. MENE.

  • bronze, copper-brown patina

Catalogue Note

Of Mêne's many ambitious hunting groups, the present model is one of his most successful. His interest in historical subjects is confirmed by his modelling of two other groups incorporating a Royal huntsman from the era of Louis XV: one a horse and rider group and the other a single figure group of a huntsman with five hounds, dated 1869. The present model differs from the other bronzes, with the huntsman's cap in hand, gesturing the hounds forward and the arched pose of his figure suggesting a Rococo elegance fully in tune with the historical revival of the time.

Related Literature: Horswell p.160; Payne p.319, no.H121; Cadet p.221, no.6