catalog text
EMMANUEL FREMIET
French, 1824-1910
"Chien courant blessé" (Wounded Hound)
Medium-brown patina on sand-cast bronze over black marble base | Conceived 1850; signed in base "E. FREMIET"; a lifetime cast by Charles More numbered "26" verso
Item # 204PZC05D
An exquisite and scarce cast of Wounded Hound, it was originally ordered as a commission for the French government at an agreed upon price of 2,500 francs on October 6th of 1849. Fremiet was rather efficient in executing the work, the initial deposit coming on the 12th of November in 1849 with final payment following on January 9th of 1850. The finished bronze was cast by the Eugéne Gonon foundry in time for the 1850 Paris Salon. The submission earned Fremiet a second-class medal and the sculpture was placed in the Musée du Luxembourg shortly thereafter. It was subsequently cast in smaller editions by Fremiet's atelier Charles More using the sand-casting method with the model composed of four individual pieces.
An immediately relatable subject, Fremiet breaks up the visual mass in Wounded Hound by lifting his injured leg to create negative space. The truth of the composition and its accuracy to nature is accentuated by the absence of violence: an entirely passive model, the hound obsessively attends to his front elbow while the rest of his body is entirely at ease. It is one of Fremiet's finest naturalistic compositions.
The model is signed in the base "E. FREMIET" and is numbered at the reverse of the base "26", a casting by Fremiet's neighborhood founder Charles More. It is raised on the original polished black marble base with an inset gilded plaque at the front suggesting the action absent from the casting: a powerful elk has the hound dog trapped on the ground among the scattered foliage of the field.
Artist Listings & Bibliography:
- Emmanuel Fremiet, 1824-1910, Catherine Chevillot, 1989, p. 78, cat. 21 S31
- Bronze Sculpture of Les Animaliers, Jane Horswell, 1971, p. 193 [illustration courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum]
Measurements: 10 1/2" H x 9 1/2" D x 6 1/2" W (dimensions without base); 12 1/2" H x 10 7/8" D x 7 1/2" W (dimensions including base)
Condition Report: Very minor handling wear to patina throughout; scuffing to rib-cage on proper right side of dog [under UV examination there is evidence of retouching to the scuffing; the surface appears otherwise untouched]; base is original with replaced internal steel rod; large chip to right side of plaque on marble base, small chips around edges in a few places. A very fine presentation.