The Finishing Line
by BOUCHER, Alfred, Bronze, 67 x 102 cm
This bronze depicts three athletes in the last fraught moment of a race, each balanced on one leg as they stretch a hand forwards in the desperate frenzy to be the first over the finishing line.
Boucher exhibited the plaster model for the first time at the Salon of 1886. After its instant success the State commissioned a monumental bronze version of the group to be placed in the Jardins du Luxembourg. This cast was exhibited at the Salon in 1887 and subsequently erected in the gardens. It remained there until its sad destruction during the Occupation.
The present bronze is a reduction of the life-size model. Editions in three sizes were cast by the Siot-Decauville foundry.