Bronze Proof - Deer Jumping The Marsh - Christophe Fratin (1801-1864)

Bronze with nuanced patina Deer jumping the Marais Signed FRATIN for Christophe FRATIN (1801-1864) Exceptional state of preservation Carving of rare quality Powerful and rare subject CIRCA 1860 Christophe Fratin (1801-1864) exhibited from 1831 and regularly at the Salon. During these Salons, he rubbed shoulders with Antoine-Louis Barye who successively imposed himself with the Tiger devouring a gavial in 1831, and his monumental Lion with a snake of 1833, thus leaving Fratin in the shadows during these two years. He ended up finding success and esteem there: the reviews were rave reviews, his works sold well. Fratin's repeated successes at the Salons of 1834, 1835 and 1836 aroused the interest of the aristocracy. Thus he worked at the Château de Dampierre for the Duke of Luynes, where he notably produced the Lions on the pediment of the main building and important interior decoration work. Fratin, who excels in the production of decorative objects, will provide four small pieces for the creation of a princely table centerpiece, of which Barye is the main craftsman. Fratin's audience quickly became international, he left for England between 1833 and 1834. The artist also produced large romantic groups in Germany, in Potsdam at the castles of Sans-Souci and Babelsberg where some are still preserved. Throughout his career, the interest of the English clientele will not be denied. This tireless worker will even export his works as far as Saint Petersburg where they decorated the park of the Emperor of Russia. Romanticism shines through in an obvious way in his subjects, where the horse holds an important place. Critics are numerous and often laudatory, they present Fratin as Barye's "formidable rival" in the representation of animals.