![Prosper d' Epinay](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Prosper_d%27_Epinay.jpg)
Charles Adrien Prosper Caïez d'Épinay (13 July 1836 – 23 September 1914) was a French sculptor and
caricaturist
A caricaturist is an artist who specializes in drawing caricatures.
List of caricaturists
* Abed Abdi (born 1942)
* Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003)
* Alex Gard (1900–1948)
* Alexander Saroukhan (1898–1977)
* Alfred Grévin (1827–1892)
* Alf ...
(under the name Nemo). Many of his clients were from the nobility and royalty. He was sometimes referred to as the "sculpteur de souveraines" (sculptor of sovereigns).
Biography
Prosper d'Épinay was born 13 July 1836 in
Pamplemousses
Pamplemousses () is a district of Mauritius, located in the north west of the island, and is one of the most densely populated parts of the island. The name of the district comes from the French word for grapefruits. The district has an area of ...
,
Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...
, the son of
Adrien d'Épinay
Antoine Zacharie Adrien d'Épinay (6 February 1794 – 9 December 1839) was a Franco-Mauritian lawyer, politician and slave-owner.
Biography
Adrien d'Épinay was born in Isle de France on 6 February 1794, the son of Antoine Jean d'Épinay and ...
, a lawyer and colonial politician. In 1839, his parents took him to France, where his father died suddenly a few months later. He returned to Mauritius with his mother and received his primary education there in
Port Louis
Port Louis (french: Port-Louis; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Polwi or , ) is the capital city of Mauritius. It is mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's ec ...
. In 1851, he went back to France with a former teacher as his legal guardian, to continue his studies,
![Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, Vanity Fair, 1873-01-25](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Walter_Montagu_Douglas_Scott%2C_Vanity_Fair%2C_1873-01-25.jpg)
In 1857, he decided to pursue a career in art and settled permanently in Paris; studying sculpture in the studios of
Jean-Pierre Dantan and finding himself attracted to 18th century art. It was at that time that he also began to draw caricatures. Thanks to a scholarship, he was able to study 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 he made studies of
Classical sculpture
Classical sculpture (usually with a lower case "c") refers generally to sculpture from Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, as well as the Hellenized and Romanized civilizations under their rule or influence, from about 500 BC to around 200 AD. It ma ...
under the tutelage of Luigi Amici (1817-1897), who created the statue at the tomb of Pope
Gregory XVI
Pope Gregory XVI ( la, Gregorius XVI; it, Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in 1 June 1846. He h ...
. He eventually chose to settle in Rome and open a studio on the , which he operated until 1912.
His first success came in 1864, in London, where he presented a caricature of
Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
and
Lord Palmerston
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period ...
walking arm-in-arm. Several thousand copies were printed by an English publisher. That same year, he was also commissioned by the
Duc de Luynes The Duke of Luynes (french: duc de Luynes ) is a territorial name belonging to the noble French house d'Albert. Luynes is, today, a commune of the Indre-et-Loire ''département'' in France. The family of Albert, which sprang from Thomas Alberti ( ...
, to create a statue of "Innocence" for the
Château de Dampierre
The Château de Dampierre is a castle in Dampierre-en-Yvelines, in the ''Vallée de Chevreuse'', France.
Built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart in 1675–1683 for the duc de Chevreuse, Colbert's son-in-law, it is a French Baroque château of medium ...
. The following year, he produced a
bust
Bust commonly refers to:
* A woman's breasts
* Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders
* An arrest
Bust may also refer to:
Places
* Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France
*Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically
Media
* ''Bust'' (magazin ...
of
Alexandra of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 to 6 May 1910 as the wife of King ...
, the Princess of Wales. A monument to his father was dedicated in Port Louis in 1867. He provided cartoons to ''
Vanity Fair'' from 1868 until his death.
In 1869 he was married, in Paris, to Claire Mottet de La Fontaine (1844-1936), the daughter of Adolphe Mottet de La Fontaine (1795-1884), a Captain in the service of the
Nizam of Hyderabad
The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...
,
Nasir-ud-Daulah
Mir Farqunda Ali Khan (25 April 1794 – 16 May 1857) commonly known as Nasir-ud-Daulah, was Nizam of Hyderabad, a princely state of British India, from 24 May 1829 until his death in 1857.
Born as Farqunda Ali Khan to Nizam Sikandar Jah an ...
. Her mother, Marie Élisabeth de Warren (1814-1893), was a painter. She and her parents were born in India.
After many years of shuttling between London, Paris and Rome, he decided to settle in London and made connections among the English aristocracy, but remained close to people with Parisian connections as well; especially the group centered on the
Comte de Chambord
Henri, Count of Chambord and Duke of Bordeaux (french: Henri Charles Ferdinand Marie Dieudonné d'Artois, duc de Bordeaux, comte de Chambord; 29 September 1820 – 24 August 1883) was disputedly King of France from 2 to 9 August 1830 as He ...
, composed mainly of those who had left France following the
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
. He returned to Paris for the
Salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
of 1874, where he displayed a sculpture of a nude female figure attempting to close a belt. Known as the "Golden Belt", it gained notoriety throughout Europe.
His most famous work is probably a
polychrome
Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors.
Ancient Egypt
Colossal statu ...
statue of
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronati ...
(''Jeanne d’Arc au Sacre'') which he exhibited at the Salon in 1902. Seven years later, one of his patrons offered the statue to
Reims Cathedral
, image = Reims Kathedrale.jpg
, imagealt = Facade, looking northeast
, caption = Façade of the cathedral, looking northeast
, pushpin map = France
, pushpin map alt = Location within France
, ...
, on the occasion of her
beatification
Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...
. It was placed in the
apse
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
of the chapel where Joan is believed to have been holding up during the coronation of
Charles VII.
Statue (grandeur nature) : ''Jehanne au sacre''
sur cathedrale-reims.culture.fr.
He died at his home in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire
Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire (, literally ''Saint-Cyr on Loire'') is a commune in the department of Indre-et-Loire in central France.
It is located northwest of Tours on the other side of the Loire. It is the third largest city in the Indre-et-Loire depa ...
and is interred at the Cimetière du Montparnasse
Montparnasse Cemetery (french: link=no, Cimetière du Montparnasse) is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery ...
in Paris. An avid collector of paintings and books, his library was acquired by the City Council of Curepipe
Curepipe () also known as ''La Ville-Lumière'' (The City of Light), is a town in Mauritius, located in the Plaines Wilhems District, the eastern part also lies in the Moka District. The town is administered by the Municipal Council of Curepipe. ...
and constitutes the core collection at the Carnegie library there.
Gallery
References
Further reading
* Patricia Roux-Foujols, ''Prosper d’Épinay. Un sculpteur mauricien à la cour des princes'', L'Amicale Ile Maurice-France, 1996 .
* Allister Macmillan, ''Mauritius Illustrated Historical and Descriptive, Commercial and Industrial…'', Londres, W.H. et L.Collingridge, 1914.
External links
« Prosper d'Épinay »
@ ArtRenewal
« Prosper d’Épinay »
@ Potomitan
Généalogie de Prosper d’Épinay
@ Roglo
Works by d'Épinay
@ ArtNet (including the "Golden Belt")
{{DEFAULTSORT:Epinay, Prosper d
1836 births
1914 deaths
People from Pamplemousses District
Mauritian people of French descent
Mauritian slave owners
French planters
French male sculptors
19th-century French sculptors
20th-century French sculptors
19th-century French male artists