Animalier Sculptures

When Antoine-Louis Barye exhibited his first animal sculpture during the 1831 Paris Salon, one critic dubbed the artist an ‘animalier’: a maker of animals. While initially used as a criticism, this term caught on, and over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth century it would come to designate an influential group of French sculptors whose practice centred on the depiction of animals. Imbued with vitality, character and wonderful attention to movement and detail, Animalier sculptures remain desirable and highly collectible at auction.

Alfred Dubucand (1828-1894)

Paris-born sculptor Alfred Dubucand made his Salon debut in 1867 with a wax model of a dead pheasant, which is surprising considering the great liveliness that usually characterises his work. Dubucand studied under Antoine-Louis Barye, and the older sculptor’s influence is visible in the careful study of animals’ anatomy and temperament. 

These two perching birds are some of my favourite pieces in the collection, as they look so alert and inquisitive. These bronzes are also great examples of Dubucand’s eye for detail. Note for example the finish on the individual feathers.

Christophe Fratin (1801-1864)

Another highlight of the collection is this ‘Literary Bear’ by Christophe Fratin. Fratin’s distinctive style isn’t as much about minute anatomical detail as it is about evoking a subject with sharp modelling and, not unimportantly, a sense of humour. 

While the sculptor created several monumental commissions during his lifetime (such as the large group of Eagles and their prey in New York’s Central Park) he is most renowned for his small-scale depictions of anthropomorphic bears and monkeys, which defied the more formal conventions of sculpture at the time. Around fifty models of anthropomorphic bears engaged in a range of activities by Fratin are known, and this bronze is a great example of Fratin’s witty subject matter.

Antoine-Louis Barye (1795-1875)

Nineteenth-century art critic Théophile Gautier referred to Barye as ‘Michelangelo of the Menagerie’, and the sculptor is often considered the founder and leader of the Animalier movement. 

While this small and sweetly rendered model depicting a ‘ratel’ or honey badger raiding a nest of eggs is considered a later work by Barye, it shows the sculptor’s unrivalled ability to capture animals’ behaviours and temperaments.

AUCTION DETAILS
Thursday 10 December | 10.30am
Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE

This is a live online auction with an auctioneer.

VIEWING:

• Viewing in Newbury from 4 December
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Viewing is strictly by appointment only, in accordance with Covid-19 regulations.

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