CARPEAUX, JEAN-BAPTISTE

born May 11, 1827, Valenciennes, France died Oct. 12, 1875, Courbevoie also called Jules Carpeaux the leading French sculptor of his time. His works, expressing a rhythm and variety that were in opposition to contemporary French academic sculpture, form a prelude to the sculpture of Auguste Rodin. The Dance, plaster sculpture by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, 186569; formerly on For some time Carpeaux was a student of the prominent French sculptor Franois Rude. Winning the 1854 Rome Prize enabled him to live at Rome (185461), where he was influenced by the works of such Italian Renaissance sculptors as Michelangelo, Donatello, and Verrocchio. He established his reputation with Ugolino and His Sons (1861), a dramatic bronze for the Tuileries Gardens, Paris, and won favour at the court of Napoleon III, receiving many commissions for portrait busts. His most famous work, The Dance (completed 1869; see photograph), a sculptural group for the facade of the Paris Opra, created a sensation and was attacked as immoral. His works were frequently the subject of hostile criticism, and in his last years he suffered from fears of persecution.