About Paul Gayrard

Paul Joseph Raymond Gayrard (1807 – 1855) born in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

He studied at an early age under his father the sculptor and engraver Raymond Gayrard, before becoming a student of François Rude and later David d’Angers.
He first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1827 and continued to submit works throughout his lifetime winning a Second Class Medal in 1834 and a First Class Medal in 1846 and 1848. His last recorded exhibit was in 1855.

He executed many busts of notables of the day which proved popular with the haute bourgeois, but it was his talent for animalier that confirmed his reputation as a sculptor of considerable talent. His known bronze animal models date from the years 1846 until 1848 with his powerful plaster of a ‘Harness Horse’ exhibited at the Salon in 1847 and submitted again in 1848 in bronze. Also, in 1848 his bronze of a ‘Reclining Deerhound’, thought to be first viewed when in plaster at the Salon in 1846, was particularly well received.

His monumental works include the four evangelists for the Sainte Clotide Basilica in Paris.