Antoine Durenne was a French cast iron and bronze manufacturer active in France, particularly in Paris, in the mid- to late-19th century. He was born in France in 1822 and was later educated at l'Ecole des arts et metiers in Angers in 1841 and l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1842. In 1847 Dureene purchased a small foundry, near where he lived, at Sommevoire, near the Val d'Osne works, Haute-Marne, France. His firm, of the same name, was active between 1847 and 1930, and is noted especially for its ornamental ironwork and over-life size, iron, and bronze, cast animal sculpture groups, examples of which can be found in several UK historic parks and gardens. Durenne was a founding member of l'Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs. He died in 1895.
Sources:
Davis, John, Antique Garden Ornament (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club, 1991)
Further reading:
Durenne, Antoine, Fonte de Fer. A Durenne, Maitre de Forges: Edition de 1877 (Serie F), illustrated catalogue (Paris, 1877)
Fonte de Fer. A Durenne, Maitre de Forges: Edition de 1889 (Serie R), illustrated catalogue (Paris, 1889)