Isidore Bonheur

ISIDORE BONHEUR (Bordeaux, 1827-1901).
"Bull charging a wolf".
Bronze.
Signed.
Measurements: 35 x 28 x 18 cm.
There is no doubt that Isidore Bonheur was a keen observer of animal nature. His bulls were often captured in movement or adopting a characteristic gesture that, as in this case, enclose the potentiality of an emphatic impulse, of a contained violence.
French sculptor, Isidore-Jules Bonheur was born into a family of artists, brother of the painter Rosa Bonheur. Third son of Raymond Bonheur, Isidore took his first artistic apprenticeship from his father and his sister Rosa. In 1849, he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He initially specialized in painting and presented at the Salon of 1848. Later he turned to sculpture, devoting himself to the representation of naturalistic models, especially small sculptural groups with animals. Many of his bronzes were edited by Hippolyte Peyrol. The models cast by Peyrol are exceptionally well sculpted, suggesting a strong working relationship between the caster and sculptor. He achieved success with his bulls and his sculptures of horses, which are generally depicted as relaxed rather than tense, and which are among his most famous works. He won numerous Salon medals and a gold medal at the Paris Exposition Universelle (1889).