Cain, August Nicholas

As an artist, Auguste Caine was clearly influenced by his highly prolific and renowned father in-law Pierre Jules Mene, but also was a student of Rude and Alexandre Guionnet. He married Mene's daughter in 1852, something of a tradition for many Paris artists who married their mentor's daughters in order to carry on the family business without complications. During his father-in-law's lifetime, they cast works together in Mene's personal foundry, after which he took over the foundry and personally oversaw the business. After his death in 1894, Susse Brothers put forth a catalogue of his work and began casting his sculptures - other than his large commissions, these being executed by Barbedienne, Thiebault, Rolland and Gonon, all of his sculptures after that point were cast by Susse Freres. Compared to his contemporaries, Cain produced few small bronzes, most of these being sculpted between 1846-1868, after which he received a number of State commissions for monuments in bronze. He regularly exhibited at the Salon, showing 38 sculptures between 1846 and 1888.

Notes:

• Animals in Bronze, Payne, p. 399
• Bronzes of the Nineteenth Century: Dictionary of Sculptors, Kjellberg, p. 168
• Art Bronzes, Forrest, p. 166, 205, 472
• The Animaliers, Mackay, p. 58 (extensive biography)