Sophie Martin

Bronze Colt 6/8 by Sophie Martin

2006

Animal sculptor Sophie MARTIN creates from inert clay a whole living animal kingdom. She freely observes the animal and captures and interprets a movement; and places it in nature an...

Animal sculptor Sophie MARTIN creates from inert clay a whole living animal kingdom. She freely observes the animal and captures and interprets a movement; and places it in nature and real life with a zest of fancy. Without humanizing the model, respecting the uniqueness of each one in its biodiversity. After studying three years of art history at the Ecole du Louvre, it was with her uncle and her aunt veterinarians, that her love for animals truly took shape in the clay; as with the first models animals on the examination table...

Animal sculptor Sophie MARTIN creates from inert clay a whole living animal kingdom. She freely observes the animal and captures and interprets a movement; and places it in nature an...

Animal sculptor Sophie MARTIN creates from inert clay a whole living animal kingdom. She freely observes the animal and captures and interprets a movement; and places it in nature a...

This highly evocative bronze by Vincenzo Vela captures the deposed Emperor Napoléon on his deathbed, holding a map of Europe and lost in thought about what might have been. Remarkable among most portrayals of the exiled leader, this highly detailed sculpture depicts Napoléon at his most vulnerable. Nonetheless, Vela perfectly captures his still-heroic bearing, which imparts to this work a monumental quality and quiet dignity. The mate to this figure is the colossal marble at the Musée du Château de Malmaison, which was shown at the Paris Salon of 1867. The founder of the verismo movement in Italy, Vela was one of the great exponents of realism in sculpture. Born in Ligornetto, Switzerland in 1820, he studied under celebrated sculptor, Benedetto Cacciatori. He was also influenced both by the work of Tuscan sculptor Lorenzo Bartolini, who seamlessly combined neoclassicism with naturalism and the romantic painting of Francesco Hayez...

Master sculptor Harold Castor created this realistic depiction of the Pioneer Woman seeking new land and opportunity in the American West with her two ch...

The dynamic nature of this ecstatic pirouette must be experienced from all sides. Whirlwind examines the forces of attraction and separation in a relationship. The couple’s solid bon...

Alfred Barye (1839-1882) "Lion and Antelope" Bronze Approx. 7.5H x 9W x 4D inches Signed "BARYE.ALF" and Inscribed under base "NO. 23 LION AND ANTELOPE" The son of a goldsmith, Parisian born Antoine-Louis Bayre was a sculptor of animal subjects and acclaimed, not only for his apparent skill, but as the founder of what became known as the French Animaliers School. Among his patrons were representatives of the state government and royalty including the Duke of Orleans and the Dukes of Luynes, Montpensier and Nemours. Well compensated financially, he was able to buy the best of materials and hire the country's most skilled foundry craftsmen. The foundry he hired was owned by Ferdinand Barbedienne, and casts from this period were stamped with the letters, FB. However, he did not make a lot of money from his work because he was such a perfectionist that often he would not sell his work because he thought it was not 'quite right'. In 1848, he declared bankruptcy, and his molds and plaster casts were sold along with the copyrights. Bayre's specialty was aroused, angry seeming wild game such as lions and tigers and elephants, but he also did equestrian groups and mythology figures. In order to do realistic depictions of animal anatomy, he spent much time at the Jardin de Plantes in Paris. His early training was as an apprentice to a metal engraver, but being drafted in the army in 1812, ended that education. In 1832, he had established his own studio, and unique at that time was his method of cold stamping his bronze casts, so that each one had a special number. He had his first entry, The Milo of Croton...