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Premium Christophe FRATIN (Metz, 1801 - Le Raincy, 1864)
Horse fight…
See original version (French)
Christophe FRATIN (Metz, 1801 - Le Raincy, 1864)
Horse fight…
See original version (French)
Lot no. 97
Description
Christophe FRATIN (Metz, 1801 - Le Raincy, 1864)
Horse fight
Bronze with shaded brown patina
Signed 'FRATIN' on the terrace
Horse fight, bronze, brown patina, by C. Fratin
9.05 x 13.38 x 7.08 in.
23 x 34 x 18 cm
Bibliography: related :
Stanislas Lami, 'Dictionnaire des sculpteurs de l'Ecole française au dix-neuvième siècle', t. II, Paris, 1914-1921, pp. 403-405, plaster version of the large model listed under no. 2258
Jacqueline J. A. Bougon, 'Le sculpteur animalier Christophe Fratin (Metz 1801-1864 Le Raincy): Essai sur sa vie et son œuvre,' Le Raincy, 1983, p. 15, repr. of a lithograph of the plaster group exhibited at the Salon of 1835 (no. 2258).
Christophe Fratin met with success as early as 1830 with his first entries at the Salon. Considered a rival of Antoine-Louis Barye, encouraged by the critics and his peers, and supported by the great foundrymen of the time, he began to produce small bronzes on a large scale, which made his reputation.
However, it was his large-scale, ambitious compositions, inspired by the Romantic spirit of Géricault, that were the rarest and most sought-after by collectors. This impressive Scène de haras, a unique cast, a reduction with variants of a large model sold in our showrooms (see anonymous sale; Paris, Artcurial, 21 March 2018, no. 176, sold for €125,000), depicting three thoroughbreds engaged in a spirited, swirling fight, with a wild romanticism, is undoubtedly a technical and aesthetic feat in which the inventiveness of the composition and the quality of the virtuoso, nervous casting come together.
In designing this important group of three horses, Fratin was certainly inspired by the Duncan's horses by the English sculptor John Graham Lough, exhibited in London in 1832 and now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Christophe FRATIN (Metz, 1801 - Le Raincy, 1864)
23 x 34 x 18 cm
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
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