Bull
Emmanuel Fremiet
c. 1896
Medium
Glazed stoneware
Dimensions
55 × 59 × 30 cm (21 11/16 × 23 1/4 × 11 13/16 in.)
Classification
sculpture
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
246811
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This bull and its pelican companion are in fact chimeras: imaginative beasts composed of disparate body parts from two or more animals. French sculptor Emmanuel Fremiet merged the contemporary fascination with medieval imagery—particularly gargoyles—with his lifelong zoological studies. The gothic influence shows in each creature’s set of batlike wings, while the pelican’s mismatched but eerily realistic frog body displays Fremiet’s naturalist bent.