Jean-Élie Chaponnière (11 July 1801 – 19 June 1835), also known as John-Étienne Chaponnière
John-Étienne Chaponnière
in the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
The ''Historical Dictionary of Switzerland'' (Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse; DHS) is an encyclopedia on the history of Switzerland. It aims to present the history of Switzerland in the form of an encyclopaedia, published both on paper a ...
and Jean-Étienne Chaponnière, was a Swiss sculptor active in Italy and France.
Early life and education
Chaponnière was born in Geneva
Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
, where he studied at the school of the ''Société des Arts'' under Joseph Collart and Charles Wielandy. He moved to Paris in 1822, where he studied first at the '' École Gratuite de Dessin'' and then under sculptor James Pradier, who advised him to abandon painting for sculpture.
Career
After a period in Naples from 1827 to 1829, Chaponnière moved to Florence where he lived with Lorenzo Bartolini, and then onwards to Rome. In 1827 he created his first major piece, ''la Jeune captive pleurant sur le tombeau de Byron'', which he sold to the Musée Rath
The Musée Rath is an art museum in Geneva, used exclusively for temporary exhibitions. Its building is the oldest purpose-built art museum in Switzerland, and the original home of Musée d'Art et d'Histoire (Geneva), Geneva's Musée d'Art et d'H ...
in Geneva. It was sufficiently well-received that he was made an honorary member of the ''Société des Arts''. His subsequent works, including the ''Son of William Tell
William Tell (, ; ; ; ) is a legendary folk hero of Switzerland. He is known for shooting an apple off his son's head.
According to the legend, Tell was an expert mountain climber and marksman with a crossbow who assassinated Albrecht Gessler, ...
'', an allegorical bas-relief for the bust of Marc-Auguste Pictet, and a ''Hunting and Fishing Group'' (later renamed ''Daphnis and Chloe''), were also successful in Geneva in 1829. After a brief time in Switzerland, he returned to Paris, where his ''Daphnis and Chloe'' proved successful enough in 1831 that Adolphe Thiers
Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( ; ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian who served as President of France from 1871 to 1873. He was the second elected president and the first of the Third French Republic.
Thi ...
commissioned a bas-relief of the taking of Alexandria for the Arc de Triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, often called simply the Arc de Triomphe, is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Plac ...
(which was subsequently shown in the Salon of 1834). Chaponnière retitled his ''Jeune captive'' figure as ''Une captive de Missolonghi'', under which title it was exhibited in the Salon of 1833. His 1834 ''David and Goliath'' was also a success, and was in 1854 cast in bronze for Geneva's promenade des Bastions.
Death
In rapidly declining health, Chaponnière died in 1835 at Monnetier-Mornex (Haute-Savoie), near Geneva.
References
* ''Un romantisme mitigé : la vie et l'œuvre du sculpteur Chaponnière (1801-1835)'', Luba Rhodes, Genève : Slatkine, 2006. .
* ''Romanticism'', Léon Rosenthal, Parkstone International, 2014, page 188. .
Oxford Index entry
Société Genevoise de Généalogie entry
''John-Étienne Chaponnière, sculpteur''
Paul Chaponnière, Geneva : Editions Albert Ciana, 1902.
* "Notice biographique sur John-Étienne Chaponnière de Genève, statuaire", in the ''Bibliothèque universelle de Genève'', Volume 17, Joel Cherbuliez, 1838, pages 49–67.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaponniere, John-Etienne
Swiss sculptors
Artists from Geneva
1801 births
1835 deaths