Lying Greyhound Signed Gayrard.

Paul Joseph Raymond Gayrard was born in 1807 in Clermont-Ferrand and died in 1855 in Enghien-les-Bains, a French sculptor who was the pupil of François Rude and David d'Angers. He exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1827, he was awarded a second class medal in 1834 and then obtained a first class medal in 1846 and 1848. Very fashionable from his first exhibitions, he produced numerous busts of personalities, a equestrian statue of Napoleon III as well as many animal subjects His works are present in many museums, Caen, Le Havre, Paris at the Comédie Française, Rodez and Tours. Jean Charles Hachet in his "Illustrated Dictionary of Animal Sculptors" where our greyhound is represented, writes concerning these sculptures: "These are finely worked pieces and with a very expressive allure". Pierre Kjellberg shows the same lying dog in his work: "The Bronzes of the XIXth Century". It is signed on the Gayrard terrace, located in "London" and dated 1848, which allows some to evoke that he would have lived some time in England, but nothing comes to support this thesis. Bronze with medal patina. Dimensions length 32 cm, width 15 cm.