A sitting hound with head upturned in a sensitively observed pose, with dark brown colouring and dark green undertones to the patination. Inscribed on the base, 'I BONHEUR'.

Isidore Jules Bonheur (1827-1901) was born in Bordeaux, the third child of Raymond Bonheur and brother of Rosa Bonheur. He showed great aptitude for drawing and modelling from an early age, and was taught by his father. In 1849 he enrilled at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, although he had made his debut at the Salon the previous year with his painting 'African Horseman Attacked by a Lion' and a plaster model of the same subject. He exhibited regularly at the Salon from then on. He exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1875-1876 and won a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle in Paris of 1889. His best known works include his memirial to his sister Rosa, Fontainebleau and the two stone lions on the steps of the Palais de Justice, Paris.

He produced numerous small bronzes of animals, including sheep, cattle, game birds, horses and dogs, often modelled to complement figures by Rosa, and cast by his brother in law, Hippolyte Peyrol. He also sculpted several figures and groups of horses, the most well known being the silvered bronze equestrian statuette of King Edward VII when Prince of Wales.