Before The Race - Jules Moigniez 1835-1894

Dimensions: 24.50 cm high, 9 cm wide, and 27 cm long. A student of the young animal sculptor Paul Colomera (1818-1890), who himself had studied under the great François Rude, Jules Moigniez presented his first sculpture, a plaster group depicting a pointer dog pointing a pheasant, at the 1855 Universal Exhibition and received an honorable mention at the 1878 exhibition. He exhibited regularly until 1892. As an animal sculptor, Jules Moigniez created small decorative bronzes that found their place in many bourgeois homes. Hunting was fashionable at the time, and his works—egrets, pheasants, herons, roosters, and various other birds, as well as dogs, sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and gazelles—fit perfectly within this context and met with great success. He also made a highly acclaimed foray into equestrian sculpture with his three groups depicting three different moments in the world of horse racing: Forward, Return to Weigh-In, and Victorious. His son's success, both in France and in England and the United States, sufficiently motivated Jean-Baptiste Constantin Moigniez to open a foundry in Paris around 1850, on Rue Charlot, dedicated to producing his son's works. Jules's bronzes acquired added value through the finesse of their chiseling and the quality of their highly regarded patina. In 1860, while his father settled in Saint-Martin-du-Tertre, in the Val d'Oise, to enjoy a well-deserved retirement, Jules took over the reins of the foundry. In 1862, he won a medal at the London Salon, and he sold more than half of his work in the United States. The jockey, dressed in traditional racing silks, adopts an expressive pose that lends movement to the group: his hand raised to his forehead, he scans the horizon to observe his rivals. This gesture, both natural and narrative, introduces a dimension of suspended movement and suggests the moment of anticipation before the race or the reconnaissance of the track. With his other hand, he firmly holds the reins, controlling his mount, which is excited by the anticipation of the race. The composition is balanced: the horse's stability contrasts with the rider's dynamic gesture, which animates the whole without disrupting the harmony. "Onward" perfectly illustrates this enthusiasm of the second half of the 19th century for the world of racing, the sporting discipline, and its admiration for the horse.

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