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BEST WORKS OF SCULPTURE
For a list of the world's top 100
3-D artworks, by the best sculptors
in the history of art, see:
Greatest Sculptures Ever.
BEST SCULPTORS
For a list of the world's most
talented 3-D artists, see:
Greatest Sculptors.
EVOLUTION OF SCULPTURE
For details of the origins and
development of the plastic arts
see: History of Sculpture.
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Rome
In 1854 Carpeaux moved to Rome to continue
his studies, his primary interest lay with Michelangelo, Donatello and
Verrocchio. In 1856 he started a five year course at the Villa Medici,
studying increasingly complex sculptures and bas-reliefs. Away from the
distractions of modern commercial art, he was able to study and refine
his skills. As part of his first year course, he was required to produce
a marble statue. Carpeaux created his first masterpiece for this assignment,
Fisherboy with a Shell (Musee des Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes) which
was subsequently exhibited by the French Academy in 1858. He carved a
marble version several years later, exhibiting it at the Paris
Salon in 1863. Several years later again, he carved Girl with
a Shell, a similar study.
Ugolino and His Sons
Many drawings from Carpeaux's time in Rome
survive, and they show that he was constantly sketching his surroundings.
He was particularly interested in the works of Michelangelo,
whose figurative gestures he often assimilated into his own works. This
can best be seen in Carpeaux's multi-figure plaster cast of Ugolino
and His Sons, which is based on a scene from Dante's Divine Comedy.
Carpeaux captures the moment when Ugolino is tempted to eat his children
and grandchildren, who, on the point of dying themselves, beg him to do
so. The horror of the moment is captured by the tense poise of Ugolino's
body in contrast to the abandonment of the children. The work instantly
made Carpeaux famous and was acclaimed for its dramatic boldness which
contrasted sharply with the 'official' Neoclassical
art style of the French Academy. It immediately established Carpeaux
as the natural heir of the Romantic Movement.
Return to France
On Carpeaux's return to France, the French
Ministry of Fine Arts ordered that Ugolino be cast in bronze, and exhibited
at the Salon in 1863. Later it was moved to the Tuilieries gardens,
where it was displayed as a pendant to a bronze of the Laocoon.
Other commissions were soon forthcoming, including a portrait of the nine-year
old Imperial Prince with his Dog Nero and Pietà (c.
1864, terracotta). With the downfall of the Second Empire, Carpeaux found
that many of his patrons were no longer able to support him. He produced
fewer monumental sculptures, turning instead to smaller portrait commissions.
These included Amélie de Montfort (1868, terracotta, Musee
d'Orsay, Paris); The Genius of the Dance (1872, bronze, Musée
d'Orsay); and Bacchante with Lowered Eye (1872, terracotta,Metropolitian
Museum of Art). With his slave portrait bust of La Négresse
(1872), Carpeaux added a Michelangelesque sideward turn, ropes across
the chest that seem barely able to contain the young woman's energy, and
the inscription on the base: "Pourquoi! Naître esclave!"
(Why born a slave?).
Highly regarded as a portrait artist, Carpeaux
secured several imperial commissions, including a posthumous portrait
of Napoleon III in 1873. It remained in the private collection
of Eugenie until her death in 1920. Other important works include a bust
of Alexander Dumas Fils (1873, marble, Comédie-Française,
Paris); Antoine Watteau (1863, bronze, Musée d'Orsay) and
Sketch for the Marshal Moncey Monument (1864, Petit Palais, Paris).
Another of his later masterpieces was The Four Quarters of the World,
a Parisian fountain featuring a globe which is held by four female figures
representing the four continents.
Legacy
Carpeaux died prematurely of cancer at
the age of 48. He received many honours during his lifetime and was held
in high esteem by his peers. Two months before his death he was awarded
the Cross of the Legion of Honour. Breaking with past traditions for historical
subjects, Carpeaux infused his sculpture with previously unseen freedom,
emotion and naturalism. While Carpeaux's work was reactionary to the classical
style imposed by the French Academy, it still owed much to the antiquities
and Renaissance masters of Rome. He was survived by his students including
the American sculptor Olin Levi Warner, and French artists Jules Dalou
and Jean-Louis Forain. An occasional painter, many of his works can be
seen in the museum of his native Valenciennes.
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