A LARGE AND RARE FRENCH PATINATED BRONZE FIGURAL GROUP ENTITLED 'THESEE COMBATTANT LE CENTAURE BIENOR' (THESEUS BATTLING THE CENTAUR BIENOR)

This rare and monumental group is a reduction of Barye's finished half-life-size model of Thésée combattant le centaure Biénor, the plaster model of which was exhibited at the Salon in 1850 (no. 3171). The group was edited posthumously by Barbedienne in four reductions, the present lot being an example of the grandeur originale. Poletti and Richarme speculate that less than twenty posthumous casts of this scale were manufactured, many now preserved in public collections. This particular cast emerges from a family collection and this is the first time that it has been offered at auction in over half a century.