The story
Dragons of the Deep Past — Sculptures Born of Stone and Mystery
From the moment early humans first glimpsed the strange spirals of ammonites and the jagged teeth of megalodon embedded in stone, we have been mesmerized by what lies buried beneath us. Even Neanderthal craftsmen, shaping their tools with astonishing care, sometimes preserved fossil shells in their hand axes. Homo sapiens, more daring still, once carved an oil lamp from a fossil ammonite, merging utility with mystique.
As far back as 7,000 years ago, our ancestors mined the earth and, probably unknowingly, unearthed the relics of a vanished world. By 2,000 BCE, Chinese artisans were fashioning jade dragons—perhaps inspired by the fossilized remains of beasts they could scarcely comprehend. These mythic dragons, appearing again and again in folklore from east to west, may well have been born from the bones of real monsters, unearthed and misunderstood: the first dinosaurs ever discovered by man.
From Legend to Legacy: The Artist and His Vision
Chris Leandro was already known in his French village as a sculptor, his hands as deft with hammer and anvil as with his pen. A student of English art schools and a master of his craft, he was nevertheless caught by surprise in 2001, when a private paleontological museum owner approached him with the request to make a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Undaunted by the limits of early internet research, Chris Leandro reached out to the Smithsonian Institute, which generously sent technical drawings. Armed with a borrowed MIG welder, a curious mind, and inspired by 20th-century museum exhibits, he began. The result: a towering iron Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, 5 meters tall and over 11 meters long—still standing, still roaring in silence, 24 years later, beside the museum road, awe-inspiring and unforgettable. Chris Leandro has taken these massive structures and combined his raw materials with the power of the subject matter to turn them into an art form.
From Dream to Reality: The Collector’s Success
Dani Schnider is a visionary entrepreneur based near Toulouse in the South-West of France.
When Dani, still a teenager, saw Chris Leandro’s first iron Tyrannosaurus sculpture, he decided that one day he would have one of his own. What followed was a passionate, often obsessive journey shared with Chris Leandro—a collaboration that has spanned more than a decade. With single-minded determination, he has built a collection like no other.
He is now offering this iconic collection of monumental dinosaur sculptures for acquisition.
