French Antique Bronze Sculpture "Mouton Broutant" by Rosa Bonheur circa 1870

"Taureau Debout" by Rosa Bonheur. An excellent late 19th Century French animalier bronze study of a standing bull with fine hand chased surface that accentuates the muscle definition of the subject, signed Rosa B. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Measures: Width: 32 cm Height: 18 cm Depth: 11cm Condition: Excellent Original Condition Circa: 1870 Materials: Bronze Book reference: Animals in Bronze by Christopher Payne Page no. 174 DESCRIPTION Bonheur, Rosa (1822-1899) The most popular artist of nineteenth-century France, Rosa Bonheur was also one of the first renowned painters of animals and the first woman awarded the Grand Cross by the French Legion of Honor. A professional artist with a successful career, Bonheur lived in two consecutive committed relationships with women. Born on March 16, 1822 in Bordeaux, Marie Rosalie Bonheur was the oldest of the four children of Raimond Oscar Bonheur (1796-1849) and Sophie Marquis. Bonheur's father was an art teacher who came from a poor family, while her mother, a musician, had descended from a middle-class family and had been her husband's art student. Bonheur's father, who taught drawing and landscape painting, was an ardent member of the utopian Saint Simeon society. The group held idealistic beliefs about the reform of work, property, marriage, and the role of women in society. Most importantly, for the artist's future, the Saint Simeons questioned traditional gender norms and firmly believed in the equality of women. While teaching artistic techniques to his oldest daughter, Raimond Bonheur also encouraged her independence and taught her to consider art as a career. In 1828 Raimond Bonheur joined the Saint Simeons at their retreat outside Paris. Sophie and the children joined him in Paris the following year. Four years later, however, Raimond abandoned his family to live in isolation with his fellow Saint Simeons. Sophie Bonheur died in 1833 at the age of thirty-six. Rosa was only eleven years old when her mother died, but she was aware of the heavy price her mother paid for married life with a man who was more dedicated to his own ideals than to meeting his family's needs. Rosa also saw that her mother's marriage led to poverty and her death from exhaustion. After her mother's death, Bonheur was taken in by the Micas family who resided nearby. Mme Micas and Bonheur's mother had been friends. When Mme Bonheur died, the Micas family paid Raimond Bonheur's debts and cared for Rosa. Their daughther, Nathalie, who would later become an amateur inventor and unschooled veterinarian, and Rosa became enamored with each other. When Rosa Bonheur began her career as a professional artist, she had already been trained by her father who had allowed her to study in all male classes. Rosa also learned by sketching masterworks at the Louvre from the age of fourteen, and later, by studying with Léon Cogniet. From the very beginning, Bonheur's favorite subject was animals. She learned their anatomy completely by dissecting them in local slaughterhouses. She also visited the horse market two times a week. Study of animals by direct observation led to the formation of the realist style in which Bonheur worked. It was for such work that Bonheur obtained written permission from the French government to wear men's slacks. Her working attire also consisted of a loose smock and heavy boots that protected her feet from the dangerous environment in which she painted. The style of dress that the artist adopted for work and home may well have been influenced by her father's attire, which was based on St. Simeonian clothing experiments. Bonheur also cropped her hair, perhaps to facilitate her work. She did, however, always wear dresses for social occasions because she knew that appropriate dress would further her career. Bonheur earned a successful living as a painter of animals. She exhibited at the annual Paris Salon regularly from the age of nineteen in 1841 through 1853, when she was thirty-one. She won the salon's gold medal at the age of twenty-six in 1848 and was commissioned by the French government to paint Plowing on the Nivernais in 1849. In the same year Bonheur and her sister Juliette became directors of l'École gratuite de dessin pour les jeunes filles, a post their father had once held. Bonheur completed her most renowned work, The Horse Fair, in 1855. The successful representation of percherons (a breed native to Normandy) was purchased by Ernest Gambart, a London art dealer whose gallery specialized in work by French artists. He exhibited The Horse Fair in London where Bonheur visited with Nathalie. Queen Victoria requested a private viewing of the painting at Windsor Castle. It would later be purchased in 1887 by Cornelius Vanderbilt and donated to the new Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Bonheur's trip to England allowed her to meet Charles Eastlake, then President of the Royal Academy, John Ruskin, the English writer and critic, and Edwin Landseer, the British animalier. She also toured the English and Scottish countrysides and executed some paintings based on her observations of new breeds of animals found there. Gambart made engravings of Bonheur's work, including The Horse Fair, and sold them in England, Europe, and the United States. Bonheur became one of the most renowned painters of the time. Little girls, such as Anna Klumpke in the United States, even had dolls in her likeness, much as American girls played with Shirley Temple dolls...

Inscribed "Rosa B" and stamped with the "Peyrol" foundry on the base.

Although there is seemingly no apparent foundry mark, this finely cast & patinated animalier bronze known as ‘Bull’ or ‘Taureau Beuglant’ is exemplary in demonstrating exceptional at...

Lost-wax bronze sculpture depicting a pig or sow lying in a meadow. The sculpture is mounted on an oval Lavagna slate base. Signed "I. Bonheur." France, late 19th century.

Bronze inkwell sculpture with nuanced brown patination. Two ink pots are cleverly hidden at either end of the sculpture: One in the stump of the tree and the other under a rock. Moig...

Very fine mid-19th century French Animalier bronze study of a standing Setter with excellent hand chased surface detail and rich brown patination. Raised on a stepped naturalistic base, signed J Moigniez. Additional information: Height: 19 cm Width: 34 cm Condition: excellent original condition Circa: 1870 Materials: bronze Book reference: Les Animaliers by Jane Horswell Page no. 237 About Jules Moigniez (French, 1835 ~ 1894) Moigniez was a French animalier sculptor of the 19th century. He worked primarily in bronze and frequently exhibited his sculptures at the Paris salon. He was best known for his bronzes depicting birds, although his skill and versatility enabled him to produce quality horse sculptures (primarily racehorses), dog sculptures and hunting scenes. His bird sculptures were among the finest ever created in his time. Moigniez was born at Senlis, Oise, France in 1835, the son of a metal gilder. Moigniez’s father bought a foundry to cast his sculptures, which was of great benefit to Moigniez as he didn’t have the added foundry costs that most of his contemporaries had to pay. Moigniez studied sculpture under the tutelage of Paul Comoléra (a student of François Rude) in Paris. It is quite likely that Moigniez’s attraction to bird sculpture was a direct result of his education under Comoléra, who was himself a bird specialist. Over the course of his 40-year sculpting career Moigniez exhibited thirty works at the Salon between 1855–92. His first submission in a major art exhibition was his plaster, Pointer Stopping at a Pheasant, at the Exposition Universelle of 1855.[1][2] Moigniez was known for the fine detail and chiseling of his sculptures. His bronzes—usually cast using the lost wax method—were always immaculately chased and patinated, and were especially popular in England and Scotland.[2] More than half of his output during his lifetime was sold in the United Kingdom. By the end of the 19th century, his sculpture had become popular in the United States as well. In contrast with other animaliers of the period such are P.J. Mêne and Antoine-Louis Barye, Moigniez’s bird sculptures often incorporated highly detailed bases complete with bushes, extensive foliage and undergrowth. His castings were generally of excellent quality with a variety of patinas, the gilded and silvered patinas being the most desirable and sought after by collectors. His bronzes could be reproached for an excess of detail, a result of overly-finicky, over-worked chiseling. Moigniez received redemption, however, by portraying in his sculpture a certain “elegance of attitudes”. His Chien braque...

An Italian 19th-century Grand Tour Greco Roman bronze sculpture of Narcissus, after the original sculpture excavated in 1862 at Pompeii, the green patinated bronze figure of the mythological son of the river god...

Gorgeous lifesize bronze horse and jockey statue originally by French artist Isidore Bonheur. This is 80 inches high - 203 CM. The horse and jockey is p...

A finely cast 19th-century French bronze sculpture signed Denière, depicting the romantic figures of Faust and Marguerite. Rich in emotional expression and detail, the pair is shown ...

Excellent late 19th century animalier bronze study of a feeding reindeer with rich brown colour and very fine hand chased and etched surface detail, raised on a stepped naturalistic base, stamped with Peyrol Foundry mark and signed Isidore Bonheur Additional information Height: 16 cm Width: 22 cm Condition: Excellent Original Condition Foundry: Peyrol circa: 1880 Materials: Bronze SKU: 8211 DESCRIPTION Isidore Bonheur Isidore Bonheur, born in Bordeaux May 15 1827. Isidore was the third child of Christine Dorotheé Sophie Marquis (1797–1833), a musician, and Oscar-Raymond Bonheur (1796–1849) (a landscape and portrait painter and an early adherent of Saint-Simonianism, a Christian-socialist sect that promoted the education of women alongside men). Isidore was the brother of Auguste Bonheur...