François Pompon (1850-1933) Goose, version D (head raised and circular base). Model created in 1926. Bronze sculpture with brown patina. Probably cast during the artist's lifetime. Signed "Pompon" in wax on the back of the terrace. Bearing the founder's stamp "C. Valsuani - Cire perdue" next to the right paste on the terrace. Some wear and minor damage to the patina. H_25.5 L_21 W_13.5 cm Provenance: private collection, France Other examples cast during the artist's lifetime and preserved in public institutions: -François Pompon, Oie, bronze with brown patina, cast by Valsuani, size 25.5 x 22 x 13.2 cm, bears the inscription, "245", Dijon, Musée des Beaux-Arts, n°inv.3784 bis (245) ; - François Pompon, Goose, bronze with brown patina, Valsuani cast, size 25.5 x 22 x 13.2 cm, Montbard, Musée des Beaux-Arts. Related literature: - Catherine Chevillot, Liliane Colas, Anne Pingeot, François Pompon : 1855-1933, cat. Exp. Paris, Musée d'Orsay, 18 October 1994 to 22 January 1995, Paris, Gallimard ; Electa ; Réunion des musées nationaux, 1994, model listed under n°120 D p.210 One day René (Demeurisse) was intrigued to see silk paper cones on a shelf in the studio, capping confused shapes and asked Pompon for an explanation. Pompon simply replied: "They're little sculptures that I'm having fun making. René asked to look at them and was surprised to see real masterpieces, these studies of nothing other than geese, ducks and moorhens in all their beauty and purity of line". The written recollections of René Demeurisse's wife bear witness to this crucial moment, around 1919, when Pompon met the man who helped to lift him out of his patrician status and make him the true leader of twentieth-century animal sculpture. From the 1880s onwards, Pompon enjoyed creating animal subjects by working with shapes that were simplified to the extreme. In particular, he modelled small farmyard animals that he observed in the Normandy countryside, where he had acquired a house near that of his friend, the sculptor René de Saint-Marceau. He exhibited his first animal bronze at the Salon of 1892 (Poulet, no. 2992). The famous publisher and art dealer Adrien Hébrard took an interest in his series of domestic animals, and noticed his plaster model of a goose at the 1910 Salon (the first model was created in 1908). He bought it from Pompon with the right to a limited edition of 15 numbered copies. The artist then came back to his model, proposing two variations, no doubt to facilitate casting, by smoothing the surface of the bird, placing the legs flat on the base and changing from a naturalistic base to a smooth circular base. Our example is taken from the latest version of the model with the rounded, smooth base, which was produced from 1926 onwards by the Claude Valsuani foundry. In the current state of research, we do not know the number of proofs of this first edition. A posthumous edition was also produced by Claude Valsuani, comprising twelve numbered copies. Expert : Cabinet Lacroix - Jeannest