catalog text
CHRISTOPE FRATIN
French, 1801-1864
Vagabond Bear with a Club Grabbing a Wolf
Sand-cast and patinated bronze | cold-stamped to naturalistic base "FRATIN" (with reversed N), illegible cold-stamping along front edge | cast circa mid-19th century
Item # 406SET02A
An exceedingly rare example of Fratin's "Bear Grabbing a Wolf", this casting presents with a brilliant silky patina that positively glows. The surface is chaotic and excited, Fratin's distinct impasto drawing the figures in the anatomically exacting impressionism he learned from his mentor and tutor. As a disciple of Théodore Géricault, Fratin's work exhibits a painterly hand that is almost entirely freed from the strictness of the academic, a mode of modeling that was prescient of the modernist movement that would follow almost a century later.
This model is interesting in that the bear is anthropomorphized in Fratin's typical storytelling manner, a trouble-maker carrying an unnaturally large knobby wooden club wearing a sagging and worn top-hat. He is grabbing by the scruff a wolf that is not anthropomorphized, being entirely naturalistic and wild.
The surface is finished in a translucent medium-brown with ever-so-slight reddish hue undertones. The base is stamped with Fratin's reversed N and the front shows illegible cold-stamping that is perhaps a title (as is often the case) or is perhaps the founders marking. The underside shows peened post construction.
A very fine acquisition for the serious collector of Fratin's work, the majority of which has completely disappeared from the open market and is now held in museums and private collections.
Measurements: 5 5/8" H x 3 1/8" D x 4 1/4" W
Condition Report:
Exquisite original condition. Minor handling wear to raised elements of the patina. Carefully cleaned and sealed in conservator's grade wax, a very fine example in ready-to-place condition.