BARTHOLOM, ALBERT

born Aug. 29, 1848, Thiverval, France died Oct. 31, 1928, Paris in full Paul-albert Bartholom sculptor whose works, particularly his funerary art, made him one of the best known of modern French sculptors. Bartholom began his career as a painter, studying at the Acadmie des Beaux-Arts. Wanting to construct a monument to his dead wife, he turned to sculpture in 1886. Though he had no formal training, he made a careful study of nature and of the masterpieces of the past. His reputation was established with the Monument to the Dead (1895) in the Pre-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, a piece of architectural sculpture on a grand scale. Composed of a number of mourning figures in various attitudes of grief, it is non-Christian in feeling, though situated in a Christian cemetery. This success led to commissions for a number of funerary monuments. His later works suggest the influence of Auguste Rodin.