Leonard's Bronze Dog

This small long-haired dog bronze is signed A. Leonard. Born in Paris in 1821, Lambert Alexandre Leonard studied at the special drawing school, where he was a pupil of Pierre Louis Rouillard and Antoine Louis Barye.
He specializes in animal art, no doubt influenced by Barye.
He captures and freezes, through his sculptures, animals in their natural habitat, as well as in their daily actions: walking, hunting... He almost gives life to his subjects by sculpting them in movement, and not in a static, waiting position.
Alexandre Léonard is noted for the movements and realism of his sculptures. He can be considered as romanticism, placing nature at the center of his works, but also as an artist close to the exoticism artistic movement, dreaming of travel and oriental animals.
He began at the Salon de l'Académie (future Salon des Artistes Français) in 1852 and exhibited there until 1873 small groups of animals in patinated wax, sometimes silvered and bronze.
Some of his bronzes will be presented at the Universal Exhibition of 1867.

Source: Paris Manaus Gallery