Ecossais montrant un renard à un chien (Scottish huntsman with fox and hound)

Mêne's Ecossais montrant un renard à un chien is taken from the sculptor's larger hunting composition known as La prise du renard, chasse en Ecosse, first exibited in wax at the 1861 Salon (no. 3485). A silver example of the larger group, which includes a horse and additional hounds, was subsequently shown at the 1862 London International Exhibition under the title 'The Death of the Fox'. Although Mêne never visited Britain, his admiration for Sir Edwin Landseer's highland paintings and his interest in le style écossais are manifested in the present work. The sculptor's enthusiasm for Landseer was no doubt encouraged by his close friend, the painter and sculptor Rosa Bonheur, although he must have known Landseer's work first-hand through the latter's exhibits at the Paris Salon, and through his widely published engravings.