Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (May 11, 1827, Valenciennes ?October 12, 1875, Courbevoie) was a French sculptor and painter. His early studies were under François Rude. Carpeaux won the Prix de Rome in 1854, and moving to Rome to find inspiration, he there studied the works of Michelangelo, Donatello and Verrocchio. Staying in Rome from 1854 to 1861, he obtained a taste for movement and spontaneity, which he joined with the great principles of baroque art. In 1861 he made a bust of Princess Mathilde, and this later brought him several commissions from Napoleon III. He worked at the pavilion of Flora, and the Opéra Garnier. His group La Danse (the Dance, 1869), situated on the right side of the façade, was criticised as an offence to common decency.

Sculptures by Carpeaux

• Ugolino and his Sons (currently in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)
• The Dance (commissioned for the Paris Opera House)
• Neapolitan Fisherboy
• Girl with Shell