Bronze Group "bison Hunt", Isidore Jules Bonheur (1827-1901), Peyrol Edt - Bronze

Important and rare bronze group , with double patina , brown and gold , entitled "The Buffalo Hunt" , by the sculptor Isidore Bonheur (1827-1901) .
The scene represents a cowboy on horseback hunting a bison .
The cowboy wears a traditional costume , he is dressed in his emblematic cowboy boots , his famous wide-brimmed hat , trousers and a fringed jacket .
He appears as a conqueror , on his galloping horse , armed with his rifles , he is ready to kill the bison .
There is no doubt that Isidore Bonheur was a careful observer of animal nature .
His animals are captured in movement or adopting a characteristic gesture which , as in this case , contains the potentiality of an emphatic impulse , of a contained violence .
Signature of the sculpture "I.BONHEUR" , hollow on the naturalistic oval terrace , richly chiseled and decorated .
Signature of the Peyrol foundry .
Many of Isidore Bonheur's bronzes were produced by Hippolyte Peyrol , the sculptor's brother-in-law .
The sculptures cast by H. Peyrol are exceptionally sculpted , suggesting a strong working relationship between the founder and the sculptor .
Old edition sculpture, period second half of the 19th century .
Perfect state of conservation and patina .

Dimensions : 42 cm x 65 cm x 23 cm

Isidore Jules Bonheur (1827-1901)

Isidore Jules Bonheur was a French painter and sculptor.
Born in Bordeaux on May 15 , 1827 , he was the third child of painter Raymond Bonheur (1796-1849) and his wife Sophie Marquis (1797-1833) .
His family was made up of artists , the best-known of whom wasRosa Bonheur , the eldest sibling .

Isidore began his artistic apprenticeship with his father Raymond and older sister Rosa , and in 1827 enteredthe School of Fine Arts in Paris .
After practicing painting , he sent a plaster group to the 1848 Salon , entitled "Cavalier africain attaqué par une lionne" ("African rider attacked by a lioness") ; he then turned to animal sculpture . 
His group , "Combat de taureaux" ("Bull fight") , attracted attention at the 1850 Salon .
Isidore Bonheur won medals at the 1865 and 1869 Salons , and a gold medal at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris .
He mainly composed groups of small animals .

I.Bonheur was awarded the Legion of Honor in 1895 . 
He died in Paris on November 19 , 1901.
Many of his works can now be found in museums , notably in Bordeaux , Warsaw in Poland and the United States , but most of his sculptures can be found at the Orsay Museum in Paris .