François-Frédéric Lemot (4 November 1772 — 6 May 1827) was a French sculptor, working in the

Neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The pr ...

Biography

Lemot was born at

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

. Having briefly studied architecture at the Academy of

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerl ...

, then having made his way to Paris on foot, the adolescent Lemot was discovered sketching a sculpture of Pierre Pujet in the park of Sceaux and taken into the atelier of Claude Dejoux, a minor Neoclassical sculptor who had trained with

Guillaume Coustou the Younger Guillaume Coustou the Younger (19 March 1716 – 13 July 1777) was a French sculptor of the late French Baroque or Style Louis XIV, and early neo-classicism. Life and career The son of Guillaume Coustou the Elder and nephew of Nicolas Coustou, ...

. At the age of seventeen he won the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

for sculpture in 1790, with a bas-relief of ''The Judgement of Solomon'', and became a pensionnaire at the

French Academy in Rome The French Academy in Rome (french: Académie de France à Rome) is an Academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1 ...

, where his stay was interrupted in 1793 by a call to the

Army of the Rhine An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. Two years later he was recalled to participate in a competition under a committee of the

National Convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...

for a colossal bronze sculpture of ''The French People in the guise of Hercules''; his model was judged to be the best, however the monument was never commissioned. His first showing 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 ...

was in 1801. Under the Empire he was commissioned to sculpt the chariot and figure of Fame in the

quadriga A () is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast and favoured for chariot racing in Classical Antiquity and the Roman Empire until the Late Middle Ages. The word derives from the Latin contraction of , from ': four, and ': yoke. The four- ...

atop the

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel () ( en, Triumphal Arch of the Carousel) is a triumphal arch in Paris, located in the Place du Carrousel. It is an example of Neoclassical architecture in the Corinthian order. It was built between 1806 and 1808 t ...

that stood in front of the

Tuileries Palace The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...

, for which the horses were the Greek bronze horses removed by Napoleon from St. Mark's, Venice. He was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts de l'Institut de France in 1805, then named a member of the ''Institut de France'', 1805, then to the

Legion of Honor 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 ...

and presented with the Ordre de Saint-Michel and the title of

Baron of the Empire As Emperor of the French, Napoleon I created titles of nobility to institute a stable elite in the First French Empire, after the instability resulting from the French Revolution. Like many others, both before and since, Napoleon found that th ...

. With the Bourbon Restoration, Lemot was entrusted with the recasting of the equestrian monument to

Henri IV Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...

that had been destroyed during the Revolution. Two sculptures of Napoleon, melted down for the occasion, provided the bronze, and the cast was taken from a mold of a surviving cast of the original. Lemot also provided the bronze bas-relief panels for its pedestal; the sculpture (''illustration'') was unveiled 25 August 1818. Lemot also created an Equestrian Monument of Louis XIV that provides the focal point of

Place Bellecour Place Bellecour is a large square in the centre of Lyon, France, to the north of the Ainay district. Measuring 312 m by 200 m (62,000 m² or 15 acres), it is one of the largest open squares (without any patches of greenery or trees) in ...

, Lyon, where a street bears his name. At 18 meters, it was the largest bronze casting of its time. With the considerable fortune he had earned, Lemot bought the Château de

Clisson Clisson (; br, Klison), is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. It is situated at the confluence of the Sèvre Nantaise and the Moine southeast of Nantes. The town and the celebrated ...

in western

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, in the ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'' of

Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; br, Liger-Atlantel; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', br, Liger-Izelañ, link=no) is a department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. It had a population o ...

(

Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; ; br, Broioù al Liger) is one of the 18 regions of France, in the west of the mainland. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of "balancing metropolises" (). ...

), and the town, which had been destroyed during the

Revolt in the Vendée Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

, was rebuilt according to his plans. He published a ''Notice historique sur la ville et le château de Clisson, or Voyage pittoresque dans le Bocage de la Vendée'', 1817. His pupil, Louis Dupaty, obtained a ''Premier Grand Prix'' in sculpture, 1799, with his ''Pericles visiting Anaxagoras''. On his return from the

he was named to the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute m ...

, in 1816, then appointed a professor 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 century ...

. The most famous sculptor to emerge from Lemot's studio was

Lorenzo Bartolini Lorenzo Bartolini (Prato, 7 January 1777 Florence, 20 January 1850) was an Italian sculptor who infused his neoclassicism with a strain of sentimental piety and naturalistic detail, while he drew inspiration from the sculpture of the Florentine ...

. Lemot died at Paris in 1827.

Selected works

* ''Numa Pompilius'' ''Lycurgus'' and ''Brutus'' for the Chambre de Conseil des Cinq Cent, Assemblée Nationale. * ''Léonidas'' for the Chambre des Pairs. *Figures for the triumphal arch at Châlons-sur-Marne, destroyed by the Allies in 1814. * ''Cicero addressing Catiline'', over lifesize. * ''Sleeping Woman'', statue. * ''Napoleon in Triumph'' (1808), lead, (

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

). This standing figure stood briefly in the quadriga of the Arc du Carrousel. * ''Equestrian Henri IV'' (1817), bronze. The sculpture on the

Pont Neuf The Pont Neuf (, "New Bridge") is the oldest standing bridge across the river Seine in Paris, France. It stands by the western (downstream) point of the Île de la Cité, the island in the middle of the river that was, between 250 and 225 BC, ...

, Paris, reproduces the work designed by

Giambologna Giambologna (1529 – 13 August 1608), also known as Jean de Boulogne (French), Jehan Boulongne (Flemish) and Giovanni da Bologna (Italian), was the last significant Italian Renaissance sculptor, with a large workshop producing large and small ...

and completed by

Pietro Tacca Pietro Tacca (16 September 1577 – 26 October 1640) was an Italian sculptor, who was the chief pupil and follower of Giambologna. Tacca began in a Mannerist style and worked in the Baroque style during his maturity. Biography Born in Ca ...

, 1618. * ''Louis XIV'', bronze, Lyon,

* Allegorical bas-relief, the bust of Liberty between seated figures of History and Fame, in white marble against a porphyry ground, for the Chambre des Deputés.Landon 1833: line drawing plate 14.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemot, Francois-Frederic 1772 births 1827 deaths Sculptors from Lyon Prix de Rome for sculpture 18th-century French sculptors French male sculptors 19th-century French sculptors Members of the Académie des beaux-arts 19th-century French male artists 18th-century French male artists