Mêne Pj 1810-1879 Bronze Stag With Leaf

PJ Mêne 1810-1879 Bronze, Stag with a Leaf or Stag with a Branch No. 2. Date of creation between 1844 and 1846. Attractive bronze with a brown patina, naturalistic setting, emblematic subject of PJ Mêne's work. Beautiful sand casting circa 1880. Pierre-Jules Mêne, French sculptor born in Paris on March 25, 1810, died in Paris on May 20, 1879. He is considered one of the leading figures in 19th-century animal sculpture. He was the father-in-law of the sculptor Auguste Cain (1821-1894), with whom he collaborated. His first profession was modeling subjects for porcelain factories, but he nonetheless spent considerable time at the Jardin des Plantes, from which he brought back sketches and small models of animals. Just as Antoine-Louis Barye would do a year later, in 1838, the year of his first participation in the Paris Salon, he established his own foundry, which he personally managed until 1877. It would be described as a meeting place for artists and writers, frequented by, among others, Alexandre Dumas. There, he himself worked on the casting and chasing to produce his own works, to which were later added those of his son-in-law, Auguste Cain. He produced numerous animal sculptures, particularly fashionable during the Second Empire, as were those of Antoine-Louis Barye and Auguste Cain. Mêne specialized in small bronzes and did not produce works for public statuary. His animal subjects enjoyed immense popular success and were published in numerous editions. As the exclusive publisher of his works, the perfection of his productions was widely recognized, and he proved to be, along with Barye, one of the most consistently successful artists over the longest period. Mêne emerged as one of the finest practitioners of his time, creating his models in wax. After the deaths of Pierre Jules-Mêne and Auguste Cain, the Susse foundry acquired the reproduction rights to his work and continued its publication.