Pierre-Jules MENE (1810-1879) Toreador Spada-Matador Brown... - Lot 189 - Martin - Banel

Pierre-Jules MENE (1810-1879) Toreador Spada-Matador Brown patina bronze on a round base, signed and dated 1877 on the terrace. Dimensions: H: 53 approx. Circa 1879 Bibliography: M.Poletti and A. Richarme, Pierre-Jules MENE, catalog résonné, UDB, Paris 2007, model listed under n°F18 p.47. The matador or toreador spada was created by Mêne in 1877. He exhibited it in wax at the Salon of the same year, then in bronze at the Exposition Universelle of 1878. It was a popular subject at the time, thanks to the success of Bizet's comic opera Carmen, premiered in 1875. Inspired by a trip to Spain that the artist made during this period, it is, along with Picador à cheval (1876), the artist's only Hispanic-inspired subject.