Pierre-Jules Mêne was a French sculptor, born in Paris in 1810 and died in 1879, who was one of the leading figures of the nineteenth-century Animalier school. He specialised in small-scale bronze sculptures of animals, especially horses, hunting dogs, deer, cattle and sporting groups, modelled with remarkable naturalism and anatomical accuracy.
Mêne exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon from the late 1830s and won medals there. Unusually, he established his own foundry, which gave him close control over the casting and finishing of his work, and his bronzes are admired for crisp chasing and rich patination. His best-known models include racehorses and jockeys, pointers and setters, the Arab horse, and the Falconer on Horseback. After his death his son-in-law, the sculptor Auguste Cain, continued to cast his models, and many further casts were made by other founders. As a result, quality varies considerably, and Mêne's work has been widely copied and reproduced in spelter and later bronze. Collectors should look for the incised signature P. J. Mêne, sharpness of detail, an attractive original patina and evidence of good-quality casting. Fine early casts are prized by sporting and animal sculpture collectors alike.
