Bronze patinated, black marble base. Foundry mark "Reduction Mechanique A.le Collas Breveté". H 26 / 40.5 cm. 5.4 kg.

Exceptionally strong moving figure in full run according to ancient mythology: The hero Hippomenes (according to another version Meilanion) fell in love with the Amazonian huntress Atalante, who had sworn perpetual virginity. As the fastest runner in Greece, she made it a condition that she would only marry the man who could beat her in the race; otherwise he would have to die. Hippomenes receives three golden apples from Venus/Aphrodite, which he is about to drop. As Atalante bends down after them, he is able to win the race and her. The original marble figure was created before 1714 and is now in the Louvre. Some chipping on the marble base.

Coustou was a French painter and sculptor. He won the Roman Academy Prize in 1697. He worked in Rome under Pierre Le Gros the Younger, whose lively Baroque style strongly influenced him. He returned to Paris in 1700, became a member of the Royal Academy in 1704, professor in 1715 and rector of the Academy in Paris in 1733. / Achill Collas (1795 Paris - 1859 ibid.) was a French engraver, copperplate engraver, mechanic and inventor of a number of engraving machines. In 1837, he patented a machine for enlarging and reducing three-dimensional objects. From 1838, he worked with the inventor, foundryman and publisher Ferdinand Barbedienne. The Société Ferdinand Barbedienne et Achille Collas mainly marketed reduced copies based on antiquity.

Literature : Thieme/Becker.