Édouard Delabrierre

Career

Delabrièrre was an important member of the animalier school who exhibited at the Salon from the Salon of 1848 through Salon of 1882. His first two exhibits were typical of the style of his work throughout his career. He submitted Greyhound Holding a Hare and Wounded Deer. Most of his oeuvre were comparatively small models, however his larger pieces often incorporated figures. His work varies in style and quality with some models directly influenced by Antoine-Louis Barye who was the father of the animalier school.

Delabrièrre's more popular realist bronzes were of impeccable quality and place him in the top echelon of his school. The facade of the Louvre incorporates one of his largest groups, the monumental L 'Equitation, which depicts a horse and two putti, one of whom is aboard the horse. It was completed by Delabrièrre in 1857 and installed that same year. In the final two years of his exhibiting career Delabrièrre experimented with iron as a worthy material for the Salon, although that idea did not go over well with collectors who were accustomed to bronzes. The works that were done in cast iron were produced by the art foundry Durenne Val Osne under the direction of Pierre Louis Rouillard. A list of Delabrièrre's 70 works presented at the Salon can be found in the Dictionnaire des Sculpteurs by Stanislas Lami. Delabrièrre portrayed realism in nearly all his sculptures. His circa 1870 bronze of a dog defecating took realism to an extreme level and was unusual if not outright strange. The subject matter was likely detrimental to the sales of the sculpture;

Lévrier tenant un liévre sous sa patte (1848) Combat de cerfs (1849) Le Dernier pas, chasse au cerf (1849) Tigre royal déchirant un jeune crocodile (1852) Cerf d'Amérique blesse (1853) Panthére de l'Inde dévourant un héron (1861) Cerf de Cochinchine (1864) Tigre du Bengale (1865) Tiercelet sur perdrix (1873) Vache et son veau (1874) L'Hallali and Coq faisan effraye par une belette (1875) Le Pas-perdu, chasse au renard (1876) Retour de chasse, époque Louis XV (1877) Chien Braque et liévre (1877) Piqueur de Charles IX (1881) Picador (1882) Chien sur perdrix (1898) Chiens courants (1904)

Museums Some examples of Delabrièrre's work are displayed at the Musée de Picardie in Amiens, France. Included in the Amiens collection is his Panthére de l'Inde Dévourant un Héron (1858) that would later be a Salon entry in 1861.

Death and legacy Delabrièrre died in 1912 and is remembered as an important member of the animalier school. His monumental work L'Equitation can be found on the facade of the Louvre.