Charles René de Paul de Saint-Marceaux (23 September 1845 – 23 April 1915) was a French

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Biography

He was born in

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

on 23 September 1845 to Alexandre Jean de Paul de Saint-Marceaux, a member of a noble family, and Emélie Isabelle Moriset. His grandfather, Augustin de Saint-Marceaux, served as mayor of

. At age eighteen went to

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 ...

to study 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 ...

. A student of

François Jouffroy François Jouffroy (1 February 1806 – 25 June 1882) was a French sculptor. Biography Jouffroy was born in Dijon, France, the son of a baker, and attended the local drawing school before being admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 18 ...

, he became primarily a sculptor of portrait busts and animals. He exhibited at the Paris salon from 1868, when, passing up the competition for the Prix de Rome, he decided to spend time in Florence instead. He passed a second sojourn in Italy in 1873–74. On his return, his marble ''Génie gardant le secret de la tombe'' ("Spirit Guarding the Secret of the Tomb"), conserved in the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

, Paris, shows the marked influence of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

. Among his works were several statues created for

Baron Rothschild Baron Rothschild, of Tring in the County of Hertfordshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for Sir Nathan Rothschild, 2nd Baronet, a member of the Rothschild banking family. He was the first Jewish memb ...

for his

Château de Ferrières Château de Ferrières () is a French château built between 1855 and 1859 for Baron James de Rothschild in the Goût Rothschild style located in central France, some 26 km east of Paris. Rothschild ownership of the Château de Ferrières was ...

and the tomb at

Montmartre Cemetery The Cemetery of Montmartre (french: link=no, Cimetière de Montmartre) is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis ...

in Paris for Alexandre Dumas, fils. In 1891 René de Saint-Marceaux joined the newly formed

Société des artistes français The Société des Artistes Français (, meaning "Society of French Artists") is the association of French painters and sculptors established in 1881. Its annual exhibition is called the "Salon des artistes français" (not to be confused with the ...

. In 1892, he married Marguerite Jourdain Baugnies and adopted her three children from her prior marriage. Saint-Marceaux was also a medallist, and a collector of Ancient Greek coins. In 1907 he was commissioned to execute the plaquette for the Société française des Amis de la Médaille. His bronze and granite monument for the headquarters of the

Universal Postal Union The Universal Postal Union (UPU, french: link=no, Union postale universelle), established by the Treaty of Bern of 1874, is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to t ...

in Bern, Switzerland (''illustration'') erected in 1909, represents the five continents as floating figures joined in transmitting messages around the globe. A

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

honoring the sculptor and the monument was issued jointly by

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

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 2009. René de Saint-Marceaux died in Paris in 1915.

Gallery

Image:Saint-Marceaux, Jean-Louis Forain.jpg, Bust of Jean-Louis Forain, 1913, Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Image:EB1911 Plate VIII. v24, pg.509, Fig 5.jpg, ''Spirit Guarding the Secret of the Tomb'', Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Image:Rene de Saint Marceaux Grand Deuil.jpg, ''Grand Deuil'', 1903. Image:Saint-Marceaux statue of Bailly (2).jpg, Statue of Bailly, 19th century, Musée du Jeu de Paume. Image:René de Saint-Marceaux-La Jeunesse de Dante (1).jpg, ''La Jeunesse de Dante'', Musée des beaux-arts, Reims. Image:UPU2.JPG, UPU monument, 1909, Bern, Switzerland.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Marceaux 1845 births 1915 deaths Artists from Reims Members of the Académie des beaux-arts École des Beaux-Arts alumni 20th-century French sculptors 19th-century French sculptors French male sculptors French nobility Members of the Ligue de la patrie française Commanders of the Legion of Honour 19th-century French male artists

René René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name (Renée being the feminine ...