Hickmet Fine Arts Animal Sculptures

A charming early 20th century animalier gilt bronze group of three seated puppies fascinated by an approaching snail. The bronze with fine hand chased surface detail and good colour,...

Entrancing mid 20th Century French pate-de-verre vide-poche decorated with variegated colours of greens and browns with a raised figure of a snake exhibiting fine translucent colour ...

"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...

Excellent quality and very rare mid-19th century French Animalier bronze study of a seated griffon hound looking intently at two pigeons feeding beside him. The bronze with excellent...

Arab Water Carrier by Dieder Debut An excellent French late 19th Century Art Nouveau bronze, of a an Arab man Carrying two jugs, one on each arm. With good detail and a rich brown p...

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...

A striking French Animalier gilt and patina tied bronze study of a seated Alsatian in alert pose with head turned slightly and ears pricked. The surface with excellent naturalistic detail and very fine colour, signed L.Riché and stamped with foundry seal for Thiebaut Frères Additional information Height: 50 cm Width: 46 cm Condition: excellent original condition Foundry: Thiebaut Frères Circa: 1910 Materials: Bronze SKU: 7528 ABOUT Louis Riché Bronze...

An endearing early 20th century bronze study of an owl perched upon a branch with excellent colour and very fine smooth tactile surface, signed and dated 1921 Additional information...

A fabulous French Animalier gilt bronze group of two Alsatians, one seated in alert pose with its head turned slightly and ears pricked whilst the other one lays in an alert pose. The surface with excellent naturalistic detail and very fine colour, signed L.Riché and stamped with foundry seal for Thiebaut Frères Additional Information Height: 32 cm Width: 38 cm Condition: Excellent Original Condition Foundry: Thiebaut Frères Circa: 1900 Materials: Bronze About Louis Riché Bronze...

Delightful mid 19th Century French Animaliers bronze study of a playful Greyhound and King Charles Spaniel, with rich brown rubbed to a golden colour and fine hand chased surface det...

Delightful late19th century French Animaliers bronze study of a turning whippet looking around in an attitude to play, with rich brown colour and fine hand chased surface detail. Sig...

Exquisite mid 19th century French bronze study of an anthropomorphic bear sitting on a barrel playing a violin, the barrel can be opened halfway to form a container. The surface with excellent mid to dark brown patina and very fine hand chased surface detail, signed Fratin and titled Le Père Odry Additional Information Height: 17.8 cm Width: 8.6 cm Depth: 7.2 cm Condition: Excellent Original Condition Circa: 1845 Materials: Bronze Book reference: Bronzes of the 19th Century by Pierre Kjellberg About Le Père Odry Le Père Odry is a character in one of Balzac's novels, Unconscious Comedians which is one of the lesser known novels in the series La Comédie Humaine. The novel tells the story of a famous painter who takes his provincial cousin on a trip of Paris to open his eyes to what really goes on in the city behind the respectable façade. Le Père Odry appears in the novel as a dissolute actor. Christopher Fratin, French 1801 ~ 1864 also known as Christophe Fratin, was a noted French sculptor in the animalier style, and one of the earliest French sculptors to portray animals in bronze. Fratin was born in Metz, Moselle, France the son of a taxidermist. He first studied drawing under Pioche in Metz and later worked in Paris at the studio of Théodore Géricault. He exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1831–1842 and 1850–1862, as well as at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. Fratin never signed his bronzes but instead used a stamp showing his last name in straight block letters. One of the stamps he used (pictured) showed the "n" reversed, not by design but due to an error on the part of the maker of the stamp. Bronzes bearing this stamp have the appearance of not seeming to be genuine when in reality this foible is actually an indicator of authenticity. Fratin received monumental commissions in France and elsewhere, including the Deux Aigles Gardant Leur Proie (Eagles and Prey, created 1850) displayed since 1863 in New York City's Central Park. Many of his small bronzes—including his miniature bronzes which were more affordable due to their smaller size—were sold commercially to the general public during his lifetime. Today, Fratin's sculpture is on permanent display in the Louvre, the city museums of Metz, Lyon, Strasbourg, Nîmes and at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. The Georg Eisler...

Wonderful 19th Century animalier bronze group of a standing ewe with her feeding lamb beneath her, the bronze with excellent rich brown patina and very fine hand chased surface detai...

A large and impressive early 20th Century bronze study of a walking lion with fine deep brown, gold and orange patination and good surface detail. Raised on naturalistic bronze base,...

A very fine French Animaliers bronze study of a stallion standing behind a post and rail fence exhibiting excellent hand finished surface detail and good...

“Standing Hen” Vienna bronze by Franz Bergman - circa 1900. A very fine early 20th century cold painted Austrian bronze study of a standing hen with excellent hand chased surface detail and fine naturalistic colour, signed with the Bergman ‘B’ in an amphora vase Franz Bergman - Austrian, 1861 - 1936 - is celebrated for his great attention to detail and wonderful vibrant colours, Franz Xavier Bergman is, arguably, the most famous of the Viennese cold-painted bronze artists, delighting in producing Oriental, Arab bronze...

Fabulous late 19th Century French Animalier bronze study of a standing horse with wonderful rich dark brown lightly rubbed to mid/golden brown patina and excellent crisp surface detail, raised on a stepped integral base, signed I Bonheur ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Height: 13 cm Length: 19 cm Condition: Excellent Original Condition Circa: 1870 Materials: Bronze Book Ref Animals in Bronze by Christopher Payne Kjellberg Page no. 177 SKU: 8526 DESCRIPTION Isidore Bonheur Bonheur Cheval– Isidore Bonheur (1827 ~ 1901) was born on May 15th 1827 in Bordeaux, France, and died in Paris in 1901. He was an important Animalier sculptor, the brother of Rosa Bonheur, and brother-in-law to Hippolyte Peyrol the founder. The Bonheurs were a well known family of painters, sculptors and artists. Isidore studied painting under the tutelage of his father at a very early age. He moved on to sculpture in 1848 with his first Salon entry of a plaster study of An African Horseman attacked by a lion. Isidore Bonheur continued exhibiting his sculpture throughout the years, both at the Salon in Paris as well as the Royal Academy in London. He won medals at the Salon in 1865 and 1869, and won the Gold Medal at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889. Bonheur was awarded the Legion of Honneur in 1895. Isidore Bonheur’s bronzes range from domestic cattle and sheep, which he excelled at, to wild bears and lions as well as equestrian and hunting groups, all done in a very natural and realistic manner. His Le Grand Jockey...

A large and impressive late 19th century French animalier bronze group of a Pheasant surprised by a weasel, both animals heightened with original gilding and raised on a naturalistic...