FALGUIÈRE, Jean Alexandre Joseph
(b. 1831, Toulouse, d. 1900, Paris)

The Winner of the Cockfight

1864
Bronze, height 174 cm
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Falguière sent this statue to the Paris Salon of 1864 from Rome, where he was staying after becoming the 1859 winner of the Prix de Rome. It made his reputation as a sculptor.

His victory in a cockfight prompts a naked young boy, proudly carrying his cockerel on his arm, to jump in the air with delight. This element of physical movement illustrates the sculptor's fondness for expansive gestures.