Isidore-Jules Bonheur

Isidore-Jules Bonheur was one of the most distinguished French animalier sculptors of the nineteenth century. Born in Bordeaux into a family of artists, Bonheur was exposed to the arts from an early age, not least because of his father’s friendship with Francisco Goya.

In 1828, the Bonheur family moved to Paris. Here, he enrolled at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in 1849 to study painting, having already made his debut a year priorly at the Salon, where he exhibited his plaster Cavalier nègre attaqué par une lionne and a drawing of the same subject. He went on to exhibit frequently in Paris until 1899, garnering plaudits and winning awards (he won medals in 1859, 1865, 1869, 1892, 1894, and the coveted Médaille d’Or (gold medal) at the Exposition Universelle in 1889, with his sculpture entitled Cavalier Louis XV). Bonheur was also bestowed with the title of a Knight by several dynastic and military orders between 1894-1895.

Having given up painting early on in his career, Bonheur turned unreservedly to sculpture, producing his works in a studio located at l’Impasse du Moulin Joly in Paris. He discovered over time, however, that there was a greater market to be won in England, and so, from 1870, he procured representation at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and catered to English collectors.

Bonheur was an acute observer of nature, which translates to his works; his animals are not anthropomorphised, but rather they are modelled on the characteristic movements and postures of particular species. His sculptures of horses are a case in point, which he regularly depicted as relaxed rather than spirited, and are now amongst his most renowned works.