Alphonse Lami (22 June 1822,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

-17 July 1867,

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

) was a French sculptor and Egyptologist of Italian descent.

Life

He was the son of François Lami (illegitimate son of prince Francesco Borghese) and Louise Hélène Heim (granddaughter of Jean-Baptiste Nicolet. He joined the Ecole des Beaux-Arts on 7 October 1846, studying under

Abel de Pujol Alexandre-Denis-Abel de Pujol or Abel de Pujol (30 January 1785 in Valenciennes – 29 September 1861 in Paris) was a French painter. He was a student of David and his own students included Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps and Emile Levy. He painte ...

and Francisque Duret. He first exhibited at the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

in 1850 with a marble statue entitled "Liseuse". He then went to Egypt where from 1852 to 1853 he took part in the excavation of the

Serapeum of Saqqara The Serapeum of Saqqara was the ancient Egyptian burial place for sacred bulls of the Apis (deity), Apis cult at Memphis, Egypt, Memphis. It was believed that the bulls were incarnations of the god Ptah, which would become immortal after death as ...

, which were headed by his friend

Auguste Mariette François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (11 February 182118 January 1881) was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist, and the founder of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, the forerunner of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Early ...

. Returning to Paris, he married Alexandrine-Marie Bidauld (granddaughter of the rural painter and member of the

Académie des Beaux-Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidauld) in 1853 - their son Stanislas Lami was a noted sculptor and art writer - and devoted himself to studying artistic anatomy and produced a flayed or ''écorche'' figure digging with a shovel, which he exhibited at the Salon in 1857. This work was also presented at the Académie des Sciences and was the report of an ecology written in the name of MM.

Claude Bernard Claude Bernard (; 12 July 1813 – 10 February 1878) was a French physiologist. Historian I. Bernard Cohen of Harvard University called Bernard "one of the greatest of all men of science". He originated the term ''milieu intérieur'', and the a ...

, Pierre Rayer,

Horace Vernet Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (30 June 178917 January 1863), more commonly known as simply Horace Vernet, was a French Painting, painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalism, Orientalist subjects. Biography Vernet was born to Carle Vernet, another ...

and

Jean Louis Armand de Quatrefages de Bréau Jean Louis Armand de Quatrefages de Bréau (10 February 1810 – 12 January 1892) was a French biologist. Life He was born at Berthézène, in the commune of Valleraugue (Gard), the son of a Protestant farmer. He studied science and then medic ...

. Later, in 1861, Lami published an album of engravings after this écorché under the title ''"Myologie superficielle du corps humain"''. Lami was made a knight of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

on 12 August 1859. In 1865, Alphonse Lami took part in the scientific commission sent to Mexico by the ministry of public instruction. Suffering from a liver disease he had caught from his stay in the tropics, he unwisely undertook a new trip to Egypt on his return to France from Mexico. He arrived in

when his condition suddenly worsened and he died there in July 1867.

Works

* Bust of

Michel Chevalier Michel Chevalier (; 13 January 1806 – 18 November 1879) was a French engineer, statesman, economist and free market liberal. Biography Born in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, Chevalier studied at the ''École Polytechnique'', obtaining an engineering d ...

* ''Liseuse'', exhibited at the 1850 Salon * ''L'Ecorché'', exhibited at the 1857 Salon, Musée d'Anatomie de Montpellier

Sources

* Archives de la Seine. * ''La Parentèle de Charles et Yvonne de Gaulle'' * ''Dictionnaire des sculpteurs du XIX° siècle'' by Stanislas Lami. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lami 1822 births 1867 deaths French people of Italian descent Alphonse Knights of the Legion of Honour 19th-century French sculptors French male sculptors