Amédée-René Ménard (16 October 1806 — 22 October 1873) was a French

academic 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, ...

sculptor and art teacher.

Biography

Amédée Ménard was born in

Nantes, France Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabitan ...

, the son of René François Ménard, a timber merchant. He studied art with local sculptors and joined a workshop specializing in statuary. In 1825 he moved to Paris for further studies with the sculptor

Étienne-Jules Ramey Étienne-Jules Ramey (24 May 1796 – 29 October 1852), called ''Ramey fils'', was a French sculptor. Biography Ramey was born in Paris. The pupil of his father, Claude Ramey (1754–1838), he also trained in the studio of Pierre Cartellier. ...

. He spent most of the following decade in Paris, where he showed regularly at the Salon, before returning to settle permanently in Nantes. Ménard sculpted large statues of historical and mythological characters as well as some bas reliefs and architectural elements such as pediments. Most of his work was intended for public display outdoors or in churches, and much of his surviving work can be found in such locations. A few of his smaller pieces are in museums like the Angers Museum of Fine Arts. He taught art at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

in Paris and later in Nantes. Among his students in Nantes were the sculptor

Charles-Auguste Lebourg Charles-Auguste Lebourg (20 February 1829 – February 1906) was a French sculptor, best known for the sculptural design of the Wallace fountains, which are found in virtually every quarter of Paris and in various cities throughout the world ...

and the painter

Auguste Toulmouche Auguste Toulmouche (21 September 1829 – 16 October 1890) was a French painter known for his luxurious genre paintings of upper middle class Parisian women in domestic scenes. Biography Auguste Toulmouche was born in Nantes to Émile Toulmouc ...

. The Nantes statuary will also be requested by

Joseph Bigot Joseph Bigot was a French architect. He was a local councillor of Quimper from 1870 till 1878. He built or renovated a number very important of monuments in Finistère, especially religious constructions. Early life Architectural work * Exe ...

, architect from Quimper, to sculpt, on the pediment of the facade of the Quimper Museum of Fine Arts, an allegory of painting and architecture surrounding the arms of the City, and, always at the request of the latter, will realize, for the cathedral Saint-Corentin, the recumbent figure of Monsignor Graveran (1855) or also for the equestrian granite statue of '' King Gradlon'', executed by the sculptor Le Brun de Lorient, and inaugurated on October 10, 1858, the plaster model kept at the Museum des Beaux-Arts in Quimper. Ménard died at home in Nantes and was buried in a nearby cemetery.

Selected sculptures

* Statue of Saint Anne (1851, at the top of a staircase leading down to the Marquis d'Aiguillon wharf, Nantes) * ''Mercury Inventing the Caduceus'' (1852) * ''King

Gradlon Gradlon the Great (''Gradlon Meur'') was a semi-legendary 5th century "king" of Cornouaille who became the hero of many Breton folk stories. The most famous of these legends is the story of the sunken city of Ys. He is supposed to have been the s ...

'' (1858, at

Quimper Cathedral Quimper Cathedral, or at greater length the Cathedral of Saint Corentin, Quimper (french: Cathédrale Saint-Corentin de Quimper, br, Iliz-veur Sant-Kaourintin), is a Roman Catholic cathedral and national monument of Brittany in France. It is ...

) * ''Alain Barbetorte'' (1861) monumental plaster statue,Statue of Alain Barbetorte (https://abp.bzh/photos/36/36952_7.jpg). ''Plaster statue, Amédée-Renée Médard, 1861, inventory number D 981.1.1 - Chantal Hémon, Dobrée Museum, General Council of Loire-Atlantique, Nantes.'' which originally, located on the main staircase of the prefecture of Nantes, leading to the salons of the general council, was moved to the courtyard of the castle of the Dukes of Brittany before being vandalized in 1978. It was restored by

Raffig Tullou Raffig Tullou (born Raphaël Jean-Baptiste Joseph Tulou), alias Neven Lewarc’h (6 January 1909 in Mordelles – 16 January 1990 in Saint-Herblain) was a Breton sculptor and set designer. His works included modern Celto-Breton furnishing art, wo ...

. * ''The Law and the Force'' (on the façade of the old courthouse, Nantes) * Tomb figure of Bishop Joseph Marie Graveran, Quimper Cathedral * ''Christ Blessing the Crowd'' (at Saint Emilien Church, Nantes) * ''The Virgin'' (at Saint Anne church, Nantes) * Bas relief on the tomb of Abbé Fresneau (at Notre Dame de Bon Port Church, Nantes) * Bust of Joseph Chenentais, a fire marshal of Nantes * Bust of General de Lamoricière File:Sainte Anne Nantes.jpg, '' Sainte Anne'' (1851)
Nantes, rue de l'Hermitage. File:Pornic - Contre-amiral Théodore Constant Leray 01.jpg, ''Monument à l'amiral Théodore Leray'' (1855),

Pornic Pornic (; ''Pornizh'' in Breton, ''Port-Nitz'' in Gallo) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France. In 1973 the commune of Pornic absorbed the neighbouring municipalities of Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer and Clion-sur-Mer. Popula ...

, Gourmalon garden. File:Nantes - église Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Port (09).JPG, ''Notre-Dame protector of sailors'' (1858)
Pediment of the Notre-Dame de Bon-Port à Nantes. File:Alain II Barbetorte.jpg, '' Alan Twistedbeard''
in the courtyard of the castle of the Dukes of Brittany in Nantes.

Legacy

A street in Nantes is named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ménard, Amédée-René 1806 births 1873 deaths 19th-century French sculptors Artists from Nantes French male sculptors 19th-century French male artists