Ernest Messonier (1815-1891) - Lot 42

Lot 42
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Estimation :
30000 - 40000 EUR
Ernest Messonier (1815-1891) - Lot 42
Ernest Messonier (1815-1891) Trotting horse Bronze with reddish-brown patina, richly shaded with green Signed "EMeissonier" on the terrace Bears the founder's stamp "SIOT-DECAUVILLE FONDEUR PARIS" and the number "4" on the terrace. Carries the number "3" engraved on the underside. H. 40 x W. 62 x D. 20.5 cm Related works - Ernest Meissonier, 1807, Friedland, ca.1861-1875, oil on canvas, 135.9 x 242.6 cm, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv.87.20.1 ; - Ernest Meissonier, Cheval au trot, single-stroke cast bronze with oxidative patina, bears the Siot-Decauville foundry stamp and no. 1, dim. 40 x 60 cm, Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux-Arts, inv. Bx E 1138. Ernest Meissonier enjoyed great success during his lifetime as a battle painter. He also devoted himself to sculpture in a very particular way. With an almost obsessive concern for detail and accuracy in the representation of the great battles of French history, he multiplied his research, drawings and studies. These included small wax statuettes that enabled him to capture the movements and attitudes of the horses, the major players in his large-scale, spectacular compositions. These wax statuettes, true anatomical studies, were only discovered in the artist's studio after his death. In 1893, the Georges Petit gallery presented eleven of these wax figures at an exhibition in tribute to the illustrious battle painter. On the advice of Georges Petit, the painter's son, Charles Meissonier, undertook to have the statuettes found in the studio cast by Siot Decauville. Our Cheval au trot (Horse Trotting) is one of a series of specific studies of horse movement. It is a preparatory study for the painting Friedland, presented in Paris at the Salon des Artistes français in 1875 and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. 87.20.1). The work reflects Meissonier's scientific approach to the study of horse movement. Influenced by the early photographic studies of Eadweard Muybridge, he sought to capture meticulous realism through precise anatomical detail. The four hooves suspended above the ground reinforce the impression of movement, conveying both the horse's power and natural grace. The Siot Decauville foundry is considered one of the forerunners in the introduction of limited editions and numbering in bronze editions. Our rare proof bears the number 4 stamped on the terrace. Thanks to a meticulous, single-stroke casting with a rich patina, the foundryman has virtuously rendered the idea of lightness and dynamism of the model that Meissonier had spontaneously modeled in wax.
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