JEAN-FRANCOISE-THEODORE GECHTER French, 1796-1844 The Draft Horse bronze Signed in base "T.H. Gechter." Mid-19th century detailed bronze sculpture depicting a dray horse with its hind leg caught up in the harness traces, the animal's head lowered and turned back as if puzzling over its predicament, one foot tugging at a twisted rope that runs up through a ring on the saddle. The naturalistic rocky-textured base is raised on a stepped bronze and granite plinth, and bears an inscription along the back edge reading "T.H. Gechter." height (including granite base): 8.75 inches $400-600
ARTSIT PROFILE: Jean-Francois-Theodore Gechter (Paris, 1795–1844) was a French sculptor who trained under François Joseph Bosio and Baron Gros, and is now best remembered for his bronzes. He first exhibited in 1824 with classical and mythological subjects, then shifted after 1830 toward smaller sculptures and animal subjects, working in a vein similar to fellow Bosio-Gros student Antoine-Louis Barye. Though celebrated primarily for his figural work, portraiture, and public statuary, Gechter also excelled as an animalier sculptor and became a friend of Barye, showing particular skill in modeling horses; many of his compositions center on the recurring pose of a horse shying with its neck lowered, a motif he first exhibited in cast iron at the Salon in 1838, alongside variants such as a fallen Amazon and a monkey with a jockey. He exhibited at the Salon from 1827 to 1844 and was made a Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur in 1837. Gechter's technically ambitious sand-cast bronzes, prized for their crisp detailing and lifelike surface finish, remain sought after by collectors of 19th-century French animalier sculpture.
