PIERRE-JULES MÊNE (1810-1879)
La Chasse en Écosse ou La prise du renard
groupe en bronze, signature et date "P.J.MÊNE 1861", le dessous portant le numéro à l'encre "646?"
H. 58 cm (22⁷⁄₈ in.), L. 73 cm (28³⁄₄ in.), P. 42 cm (16¹⁄₂ in.)
Épreuve d'atelier

Collection particulière, Île-de-France.

M. Poletti, A. Richarme, Pierre-Jules Mêne, Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 2007, pp. 32-33, F. 5.

A BRONZE GROUP OF THE HUNT IN SCOTLAND, PIERRE-JULES MÊNE (1810–1879)

With The Taking of the Fox, also known as Fox Hunting in Scotland, Pierre-Jules Mêne created in 1861 one of his most ambitious compositions, marking a brief return to the human figure within a work primarily devoted to animals. Exhibited at the Salon that same year, the group achieved immediate success and was shown in London in 1862 in a silvered bronze version.

Probably inspired by the work of Edwin Landseer, admired in Paris as early as 1855 and promoted by the circle of Rosa Bonheur, the composition quickly established itself as one of the artist’s masterpieces (ref. F5 in the catalogue raisonné by Michel Poletti and Alain Richarme). Produced by Mêne’s workshop until 1879, then by his family and finally by the Susse foundry after 1908, it also gave rise to several derivative models.