ARTHUR-MARIE GABRIEL COMTE DU PASSAGE (FRENCH, 1838-1909)

The Comte du Passage initially pursued a military career in accordance with his family's expectations but indulged his natural talent for sculpture by studying under the famed animaliers Anotine-Louis Barye and Pierre-Jules Mêne and exhibiting at the Paris Salon from 1865-93. He favoured sporting equestrian subjects and, like his masters, captured the horses with anatomical precision but also developed the genre by adding pleasantly animated horsemen and figures. His most commonly seen bronze groups depict a single horse and a figure, such as 'Cheval a l'entrainement avec son lad' (A horse training with his stable lad) and 'Cheval marchant et son lad' (Walking horse and groom) whereas the present group, with two hunters on horseback accompanied by hounds, is a rarer, larger and more accomplished work.