Lioness Terracotta Sculpture Matrix Vidal "the Blind" 1864? ...

Lioness animal original sculpture defending and devouring its prey - a gazelle or an antelope. (2nd half of19th century)

Original carved sculpture and by definition unique, terracotta, modeled by the artist's hand, used to make one or more molds themselves intended for the bronze prints.

Louis Vidal was born in Nimes on December 6, 1831. He studied anatomy but became blind around 1853, which prevented him from pursuing this career. He studied with famous animals sculptors Antoine-Louis Barye and Pierre Louis Rouillard and became an animal sculptor himself, replacing the view with touch.

Workshop matrix that explains the plaster fillings, also a fairly bad condition (gaps, wear and tear but also repeated ...) but which gives from this sculpture an extreme nervousness and real vibration feelings.
Signed and dated 186... (middle of XIXth cty)

Sizes 36cm length- 20cm width and 20cmheight

Condition: please see photos