Paul Edouard Delabrierre

PAUL EDOUARD DELABRIÈRRE (France, 1829-1912).
"Picador".
Bronze.
Signed.
Measurements: 48,5 x 67 x 25 cm.

Sculptural group in bronze, signed by the sculptor Paul Edouard Delabrierre. It represents a picador fighting against a fierce bull. The author masterfully captures the moment of maximum tension and confrontation. Likewise, his skill as an animalist can be appreciated in the naturalistic rendering of the animal's muscles in tension.

A Parisian animal sculptor and disciple of Jean-Baptiste Delestre, Paul-Édouard Delabrierre (or Delabrière) trained in painting and sculpture before deciding on the latter. He became known through the Salon des Artistes Français, in Paris, where he exhibited his works between 1848 and 1898 and was distinguished with honorable mention in 1859. Specializing in animal themes and influenced by Antoine-Louis Barye, he executed almost exclusively groups or figures of animals, both common and exotic, wild or domestic. His works were published in bronze by the artistic foundries Durenne and Le Val d'Osne, under the direction of the sculptor Pierre Louis Rouillard. He also made some large-scale commissioned works, such as "Horsemanship", for the pediment of one of the facades of the Louvre Palace (1857), or the group of animals made for the Flora Pavilion of the same palace a few years later, in 1866. He is also the author of works located outside France, such as "Lion with alligator" and "Lion with snake", for the facade of the Hacienda de Pachingo, today the Autonomous University of Pachingo, in Mexico. Delabrierre is currently represented in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Amiens, as well as in various private collections.