Lot 336 D

Of the approximately 125 animal bronzes created by Renée Sintenis, almost half are devoted to depictions of horses and ponies. The sculptor's particular fascination with foals is plainly apparent, and she modelled them in a great variety of temperaments and situations. She expresses her deep affection for this species of animals in these works - and this was also something she never sought to conceal. She freely admitted: “In the genuine sense of the word, an almost idolatrous love and adoration of horses lives in my heart. This inner veneration always appears to me to be filled all over again with a mysterious significance. I can't explain it with my rational mind [...] I almost feel I should say it is a metaphysical matter.” (cited in: exhib. cat. Georg-Kolbe-Museum (ed.), op. cit., Berlin 1983, p. 116). As a child the enthusiastic rider had already preferred to spend her time in paddocks and pastures, and it was presumably there that she gathered the first impressions for her rich repertoire of motifs.
Sintenis had already created a small previous version in 1919 (Berger/Ladwig 44; Buhlmann 130); ten years later she transferred the motif in a slightly modified form into the “Großes grasendes Fohlen”. The delicate young animal now bows its head downwards to the left, with its still spindly front legs stretched forwards and backwards, so that it can more easily reach its mouth to the ground. The hind legs provide it with support in this somewhat awkward position. The foal jauntily stretches its rump, with its still bushy short tail, into the air. Although it is entirely occupied with feeding, it simultaneously attempts to take in as many impressions as possible with its other sensory organs: nostrils, eyes and ears.
Here Sintenis has developed the physiognomic characteristics with great formal confidence - a remarkable further elaboration upon the initial, small version. Both children and adults can enjoy two casts of the “Großes grasendes Fohlen” in public spaces: since 1971, one lingers on Berlin's Renée-Sintenis-Platz and the other searches for food in Düsseldorf's Hofgarten.