Christophe Fratin was born in Metz on 1/1/1801 and died in Raincy, ( Seine-el-Oise ), on 8/16/1864. The son of a taxidermist, he began his studies of sculpture under Pioche. He was subsequently accepted as a student under Gericault, whose impasto technique was central to many of Fratin's animalier sculptures.

Fratin first displayed the sculpture, Fermer, an English Thoroughbred at the Paris Salon in 1831, and regularly displayed thru 1842 and from 1851 to 1862. His bronze statuettes were edited, (cast ), using colleagues owned foundries to pour the bronze. Most of his early casts were edited at the workshop of Quesnels and later in life by the founder Daubre. Much of his work is in plaster,...