La Ruade - Gaston d'Illiers 1876-1932

La Ruade, or Coco Ruant or even Poney Ruant Presented at the animal show in 1925. (note some light scratches). Gaston d'Illiers discovered, during his adolescence, horses and hunting them with hounds in the national forest of Orléans or in neighboring Sologne, and wax casting and sculpture. Trained by the Catalan sculptor Gustave OBIOLS (1858 - circa 1930), Count Geoffroy de RUILLÉ (1842 - 1922), animal sculptor, and the animal painter Georges BUSSON (1859 - 1933) Gaston d'Illiers was introduced to changing techniques wax into a bronze statue. His passion for horse riding and hunting pushed him into the field of animal sculpture, and more particularly in the representation of the equestrian world. As early as 1899, the Paris Salon of French Artists exhibited his works. A passionate and prolific sculptor, he presented some 102 works there between 1899 and 1930. He also exhibited in numerous other salons, such as the Society of Animal Artists, dog and horse shows. Seasoned rider, equestrian trainer, huntsman, he took infinite pleasure in sculpting horses, as well as pack dogs. He sculpted his own (Miss, Youyou, Whip, Violette, Sweet Heart, Képi, Colibri, Emeralda...), those of his family or his friends (Protocole, Nonciature, Jack, Sydney, Moonshine, Le Bourgeois, Sous-Off, War Claim…) but also the thoroughbreds seen at the racecourse (Idylle, Bulletin Rose, Rosetta XIV…), or the anonymous horses, at work in the fields, resting in a meadow… such as his Boulonnais trotting 1896, his Charrue (1899), his group Cheval et âne de Halage from 1901, his Chevaux à la Herse from 1906, his Fardier (1911) or even his Étalon Boulonnais from 1921. Very often a jury of local agricultural competitions, Gaston d' Illiers loved to sculpt these solid rustic horses, whose powerful musculature evoked pain and hard work.