Great Artist of the Day: Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827-1875) French painter and renowned sculptor of the Second Empire period during the reign of Napoleon III. He studied in France and also spent several years in Rome studying the classical works of Michelangelo, Donatello and renaissance artists others. As for his paintings -- he never publically exhibited or sold any of them during his lifetime and this was, apparently, intentional. It seems that he painted largely for his own pleasure and showed his paintings only to his family and a limited number of others. As for his sculptures, however, he completed several significant commissioned works along with various copies of them, some executed in marble, bronze or terra-cotta. One of his best known works is “Ugolino and His Sons.” It was executed in plaster (1857-60) and later in bronze and also in marble. The marble version resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and various versions of the work are located in other museums including the Musée d’Orsay. I would not say this particular work is a favorite of mine, as the subject is a rather is a rather grim to say the least, however, it is a very impactful and most skillfully executed work -- the anatomical realism achieved is quite amazing and I will include some pictures of it with this posting. By way background, Ugolino was a political figure who was imprisoned along with (I believe) two of his children in the Tower of Pisa in 1288 and left there to die of starvation. It may have been that an act of cannibalism took place within the tower but I’m not sure if this is historical fact or merely supposition. In any event, Ugolino is best remembered because of a reference to him and his dreadful situation that Dante included in a portion of his “Inferno.” Dante writes of Ugolino being in Hell. Condemned to starvation he is close to yielding to the temptation to devour his offspring. Dante recounts the scene in the following canto, including the moment when Ugolino’s sons call out to their father to devour them, rather than feeding on himself, which they supposed he had begun to do: But when to our somber cell was thrown A slender ray, and each face was lit I saw in each the aspect of my own, For very grief both of my hands I bit, And suddenly from the floor arising they, Thinking my hunger was the cause of it, Exclaimed: Father eat thou of us, and stay Our suffering: thou didst our being dress In this sad flesh; now strip it all away. Now that is some heavy duty stuff. In his depiction, Carpeaux captures the very moment when Ugolino has begun to bite his own hands, and his sons issue their sacrificial plea. Again, I will post various details of this amazing work. Pleasant? No – but very impressive. Again, the anatomical representations are impressive. It is hard for me to imagine being able to fashion stone in such an expressive manner as is reflected in this work of art. Another famous work is “La Danse” (1869) which adorned the outside of the Opera Garnier in Paris. At the time it was considered somewhat indecent by some. There are some very fine busts that were completed by Carpeaux. His work “La Negressa,” a slave woman is particularly impressive and one that I like very much. I will include pictures of versions of it in both terra-cotta and Bronze. His bust of “The Chinaman” is also an extremely impressive work. I do hope you enjoy learning about this artist and his skills. The only French sculptor one might compare to Carpeaux in terms of general skill would be Rodin whose works are far better known. The first image below is the "Violinist" in terra-cotta. I hope you enjoy this brief exposure to Carpeaux and have a very pleasant day.
Posted on: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 13:03:12 +0000
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