This large and heavy bronze depicts a walking male lion, and is mounted to a granite base. The bronze is signed VIDAL with the year 1874. Condition is excellent. Including the granite base, it measures 15 inches tall, 28.5 inches long, 8.5 inches wide.
Acquired from private collection.
Hi Peter,
Thank you for contacting Mearto with your appraisal inquiry.
Based on the photographs and information provided, and subject to examination, this is:
Louis Vidal Natavel (French, 1831-1892)
"Lion rugissant", 1874
bronze, on a granite base
15 inches tall, 28 1/2 inches long, 8 1/2 inches wide.
PROVENANCE: acquired from a private collection
CONDITION: client reports this to be in good condition
$500-700*
*represents a fair-market value for auction purposes; retail or asking price may vary.
Please let us know if you have additional items to appraise, and thank you for using Mearto.
Peter, my apologies. The database I was using - AskArt - showed Louis Vidal with those dates only doing paintings. Henri Vidal did a bronze lion so similar to yours I did not look more closely at his dates.
Had I done so, I would have found listed:
Louis Vidal Natavel (French, 1831-1892) who was blind and a student of Barye. There have been more than 20 versions of his Lion at auction in the last 15 years, the priciest one bringing about $3500 in 2009, when the market was much stronger. More recent sales of this version are selling between $400-900 so my estimate is still appropriate, though the name of the artist is as you've pointed out, correct. I will change the name of the artist in my original assessment.
Hello Delia. Isn’t this bronze by Louis Vidal (1831-1892)? Henri Vidal would have only been 10 years old in 1874.