Herakles Slaying the Stymphalian Birds (Bourdelle)

Bourdelle began developing the idea for the Herakles sculpture in 1906. As his model he chose the athletically built cavalry officer Paul (André) Doyen-Parigot, whom he had met through Auguste Rodin. Doyen-Parigot posed for about ten hours in total; contemporary photographs document the work. Because the model did not wish to be recognised, Bourdelle reworked the figure's head, drawing inspiration from archaic Greek works. By 1909 he had produced a number of small-scale studies and models, now kept at the Musée Bourdelle in Paris. The final clay sculpture, roughly 62 centimetres tall, prompted the art collector and patron Gabriel Thomas – a cousin of the painter Berthe Morisot – to commission a monumental bronze version for his estate in Meudon-Bellevue. Thomas initially insisted that only a single copy be made. In the summer of 1909 the Rudier Foundry in Paris produced this first monumental bronze cast (250 cm tall), which went to Thomas in 1910 for 10,000 francs. Thomas later reconsidered his demand, and two small series of casts followed.

"Herakles the Archer" was the artist's first unqualified success. In 1910 the bronze was exhibited at the Salon of the Société nationale des beaux-arts to great acclaim, and Bourdelle came to be regarded as a leading French sculptor alongside Auguste Rodin. Today casts of the work stand in numerous international museums as well as in public buildings, squares and gardens. The first bronze cast of 1909 was acquired in 1920 by Prince Eugen of Sweden and can be seen in the sculpture park at Waldemarsudde in Stockholm. Further casts of the first version are held in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum.