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Lot 222

Isidore Jules Bonheur, French (1827-1901)
Le Grand Jockey

Europe - Defining Style
9 July 2015, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £21,250 inc. premium

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Isidore Jules Bonheur, French (1827-1901)

Le Grand Jockey
signed I. BONHEUR and with foundry stamp to the side for PEYROL EDITEUR, 75cm wide, 23cm deep, 61.5cm high (29 1/2in wide, 9in deep, 24in high)

Footnotes

Bonheur exhibited a wide variety of animal sculptures at the Salons including three studies of jockeys on horseback, exhibited in 1864, 1879 and 1886. The most famous of these is Le Grand Jockey. The work shows a victorious jockey patting his horse on the neck in congratulation. First exhibited at the 1879 Salon in bronze, under the title Un Jockey, it was displayed alongside another equestrian group, Un cavalier, époque de Louis XV (nos. 4817 & 4816 respectively).
Bonheur had a close working relationship with his brother-in-law, the celebrated Parisian founder Hippolyte Peyrol, who was married to his sister Juliette. These close ties resulted in the production of exceptionally cast and finely chased bronzes, often identified, as here, by Peyrol's miniscule cachet. The Salon entries indicate that Bonheur's atelier was at the time 'Chez M. Peyrol, rue de Crussol, 14'. Four years later, Bonheur and Peyrol had evidently realised the commercial potential of these equestrian models. Bonheur exhibited them again at the Exposition Nationale des Beaux Arts of 1883 (nos. 893 & 894) and for a third time at the Exposition Universelle of 1889, when he was awarded the prestigious Médaille d'Or. The widely popular Le Grand Jockey was subsequently edited in four different sizes. An identical model of the same size as the present lot can be seen in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

An identical bronze of same size and also cast by Peyrol sold these rooms, 7 July 2010, lot 203 (£24,000).

Additional information

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