Isidore-Jules Bonheur French, 1827-1901

Le Grand Jockey is Bonheur's most recognisable sporting bronze and one which brought him acclaim when it was exhibited at the 1879 Salon. Together with his brother-in-law Hippolyte Peyrol, whose Paris foundry at rue de Crussol cast the present bronze, Bonheur jointly exhibited the model at the Exposition Nationale des Beaux Arts in 1883 and the Exposition Universelle of 1889. On the latter occasion, Bonheur was awarded the Medaille d'Or. Realising its commercial potential, Peyrol edited the model in four different sizes, the present example being the second largest.  The details of the horse are well chased throughout, as can be seen in the veins, tendons and rippling muscles.

RELATED LITERATURE
Forrest, p.227; Horswell, p.209; Lami, vol.1, pp.127-30