Taureau romain (Roman bull)

Modelled during his seven-year stay in Rome between 1857 and 1864, Taureau romain is among Jean-Baptiste Clésinger's most popular works. Writing in L'Artiste in 1859, the critic Armand Barthet, descibed it as follows: "Ce taureau est un miracle. Clésinger n'eut-il jamais fait autre chose, qu'il serait aujourd'hui, de par ce taureau seul, au premier rang des sculpteurs modernes". The model was edited in no less than six different sizes by Barbedienne, the present cast being an example of the smallest.