FRENCH BRONZE HUNTING FIGURE GROUP, BY PIERRE JULES MENE (FRENCH 1810-1879)
SCOTTISH HUNTSMAN WITH A FOX AND A HOUND
Auction: Property from the Earls of Airlie | Wed 3rd Sept at 10am | Lots 1 to 44
Description
medium brown patina, also known as ‘Ecossais montrant un renard à un chien’, the standing figure holding a dead fox up in the left hand with a hound at his feet, on a naturalistic circular base with integral plinth, signed ‘P.J.MENE’ to the rim
Dimensions
50cm high, 27cm diameter
Provenance
Property from the Earls of Airlie
Footnote
Mêne's ‘Scottish Huntsman with a fox and a hound’, or ‘Ecossais montrant un renard à un chien’, is taken from the sculptor's larger hunting composition known as La prise du renard, chasse en Ecosse, first exhibited in wax at the 1861 Salon (No. 3485). A silver example of the larger group, which includes a horse and additional hounds, was subsequently shown at the 1862 London International Exhibition under the title 'The Death of the Fox'. Although Mêne never visited Britain, his admiration for Sir Edwin Landseer's highland paintings and his interest in le style écossais are manifested in the present work. The sculptor's enthusiasm for Landseer was no doubt encouraged by his close friend, the painter and sculptor Rosa Bonheur, although he must have known Landseer's work first-hand through the latter's exhibits at the Paris Salon, and through his widely published engravings.