P.j. Mêne 1810–1879 Bronze French Spaniel

Pierre-Jules Mêne, a French sculptor born in Paris on March 25,1810, died in Paris on May 20, 1879.

He is considered one of theleading figures in 19th-century animal sculpture.He was the father-in-law of the sculptor Auguste Cain (1821–1894), with whomhe collaborated.

His first profession was modeling subjects forporcelain manufacturers; however, he also spent a significant amount of timeat the Jardin des Plantes, from which he brought back sketches and smallanimal models.

Just as Antoine-Louis Barye would do a year later, it was in1838—the year of his first participation in the Paris Salon—that heestablished his own foundry, which he personally manageduntil 1877. It was described as a gathering placefor artists and writers, frequented by AlexandreDumas, among others. There, he personally worked on casting and chiseling toproduce his own works, to which were later addedthose of his son-in-law, Auguste Cain,

He produced numerous animal sculptures, which were particularlyin vogue during the Second Empire, as were thoseby Antoine-Louis Barye and Auguste Cain. Mêne specialized insmall-scale bronzes and did not produce works forpublic sculpture. His animal subjects enjoyed immensepopular success and were produced in very large numbers. As theexclusive publisher of his works, the perfection of his productions waswidely recognized, and he proved, along with Barye, to be the artist whosesuccess was the most consistent over the longest period. Mêneemerged as one of the finest practitioners of his time andcreated his models in wax.

After the deaths of Pierre Jules-Mêne and Auguste Cain, theSusse foundry acquired the reproduction rights to his work andcontinued to produce it.