Bronze
Size: 18" h x 16 ½" w x 8" d
Markings: Signed on the base

Antoine Bourdelle was a French sculptor known for his use of quivering Romanesque forms in his depictions of mythological figures. One of his best known works Hercules the Archer (1909), was a commissioned sculpture for the financier Gabriel Thomas. Born Émile-Antoine Bourdelle on October 30, 1861 in Montauban, France, he learned woodworking as a youth from his father who was a cabinetmaker. While assisting his father during the workday, he studied drawing at the École des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse in the evening. Moving to Paris in 1885, the artist became an assistant to Auguste Rodin in 1893, Rodin’s influence is evident in many of Bourdelle’s early sculptures. By 1900, he had begun receiving commissions for a number of theaters and later taught classes at his studio to young artist such as Alberto Giacometti and Otto Gutfreund. It was around this time period that Bourdelle began freeing himself from the style of Rodin to find his own way of working. The artist died on October 1, 1929 in Paris, France. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., among others.