Denis Foyatier
| Denis Foyatier | |
|---|---|
Spartacus, 1830
|
|
| Born |
21 September 1793 Bussières, Loire |
| Died | 19 November 1863 (aged 70) Paris |
| Nationality | French |
| Education |
École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris French Academy in Rome |
| Known for | Sculpture |
| Notable work | Spartacus |
| Movement | Neoclassicism |
Denis Foyatier (21 September 1793 at Bussières, Loire – 19 November 1863 at Paris) was a French sculptor in the neoclassical style.
Foyatier was the child of a family of modest means (his father was a weaver and later a farmer at Bezin, a hamlet near Bussières, Loire). He started by working on religious figures, while taking a design course at Lyon. In 1817, he entered the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts ("National Higher School for Arts and Crafts") in Paris. In 1819 he exhibited his first pieces and, aged 26, was awarded a scholarship for the French Academy in Rome at the Villa Médicis.
At the Villa Médicis he created the mould for his piece Spartacus, which is very well known. A Royal Command of 1828 for a production in marble made him famous.
After a brilliant career as a sculptor and painter, he died on 19 November 1863 and is buried in the Petit-Clamart cemetery in a suburb of Paris.
Some of Foyatier's works have been lost; several were melted down during the Second World War.
He was the father-in-law of the sculptor Jules Blanchard.
Several towns have named streets after him:
and some smaller communes in the Loire department:
Spartacus, detail
l'Amour, Musée du Louvre
Cincinnatus, Jardin des Tuileries
...
Wikipedia