Paul Bouré or Paul-Joseph Bouré (2 July 1823 – 17 December 1848) was a Belgian artist. Poised to become one of the most notable

sculptors 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 ...

of his time, he died at the age of 25.

Education and career

Bouré studied at the

Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels ( ''(ArBA-EsA)''; ) is an art school in Brussels, Belgium, founded in 1711. Starting from modest beginnings in a single room in Brussels Town Hall, Brussels' Town Hall, it has since 1876 been operat ...

from 1837 to 1841, first under

Guillaume Geefs Guillaume Geefs (10 September 1805 – 19 January 1883), also Willem Geefs, was a Belgian sculptor. Although known primarily for his monumental works and public portraits of statesmen and nationalist figures, he also explored mythological s ...

in 1838 and then with

Eugène Simonis Louis-Eugène Simonis (; 11 July 1810, in Liège – 11 July 1893, in Koekelberg) was a Belgian sculptor. Career Simonis studied under François-Joseph Dewandre at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Liège and at the age of nineteen went to ...

. In October 1841, he traveled to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and visited

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

and

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

. His teacher Simonis wrote to him in 1842 on the value of studying in Florence: He began studies in 1842 at the

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

Emilio Santarelli Emilio Santarelli (1 August 1801- 29 October 1889) was an Italians, Italian sculptor active mainly in Florence. Biography He was born in Florence to Giovanni Antonio Santarelli, who worked as an engraver of Cameo (carving), cameo jewelry. He enr ...

(1801–1886), rather than at the Florence academy, and earned the attention of

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 ...

, who was struck by his precocious talent. He remained in Florence until 1844. Bouré returned to Belgium in 1844 and began to exhibit his works. The Italian sculptor praised his ''Meditating Love'' (1844), and his ''Young Faun Reclining'' (1843) was also much admired. Bouré's version of ''Prometheus Bound'', called an "erudite and impressive creation," was later remembered as the most remarkable work at the Brussels exhibition of 1845. At the time, however, a reviewer characterized the work as an entirely physical treatment of the myth, admittedly modeled "with an astonishing power and vigor," but failing to capture what was then a common view of Prometheus as a

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

-like figure symbolizing the struggle of doomed human intelligence. Bouré himself was hailed as "on the way to becoming a truly distinguished artist." In 1848, Bouré showed ''Enfant jouant aux billes'' (''Child Playing with Balls'') and ''Sauvage surpris par un serpent'' (''Savage Surprised by a Snake''), earning the gold medal. The latter work in particular locates the artist at the intersection of

classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...

and

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

. Its serpentine struggle between human and animal has been compared to the Laocoön theme in sculpture. Bouré departs from the classical heroic conception by portraying his human subject as "without hope, already defeated, strangled and trapped, deprived of any possibility of fighting for liberty." Bouré also created sculpture for the façade of the

Brussels Town Hall The Town Hall (, ; , ) of the City of Brussels is a landmark building and the seat of that municipality of Brussels, Belgium. It is located on the south side of the Grand-Place, Grand-Place/Grote Markt (Brussels' main square), opposite the Goth ...

. Toward the end of his life, Bouré withdrew to , a small town near

Namur Namur (; ; ) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is the capital both of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namur stands at the confl ...

, where his maternal grandmother lived. There he took up painting. Although his paintings are not well known, a

self-portrait Self-portraits are Portrait painting, portraits artists make of themselves. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, the practice of self-portraiture only gaining momentum in the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century ...

is mentioned in the catalogue of a

retrospective exhibition A retrospective (from Latin ', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in software development, popular culture, and the arts. ...

in 1905. Shortly before his death, Bouré managed to complete a group of eight figures that had been commissioned for the

Philip the Good Philip III the Good (; ; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) ruled as Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death in 1467. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonged. During his reign, ...

Charles the Bold Charles Martin (10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), called the Bold, was the last duke of Burgundy from the House of Valois-Burgundy, ruling from 1467 to 1477. He was the only surviving legitimate son of Philip the Good and his third wife, ...

Mary of Burgundy Mary of Burgundy (; ; 13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy who ruled the Burgundian lands, comprising the Duchy of Burgundy, Duchy and Free County of Burgundy, County of Burgundy a ...

, Maximilian I,

Philip I of Castile Philip the Handsome (22 June/July 1478 – 25 September 1506), also called the Fair, was ruler of the Burgundian Netherlands and titular Duke of Burgundy from 1482 to 1506, as well as the first Habsburg King of Castile (as Philip I) for a bri ...

Charles V Charles V may refer to: Kings and Emperors * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise Others * Charles V, Duke ...

Margaret of Parma Margaret (; 5 July 1522 – 18 January 1586) was Duchess of Parma from 1547 to 1586 as the wife of Duke Ottavio Farnese and Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1559 to 1567 and from 1578 to 1582. She was the illegitimate daughter of Ch ...

Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...

. His last two works, of

and the Virgin, were destined for the church at Olloy. At his father's request, the plaster casts of his statues were given to the Belgian government. His younger brother

Antoine-Félix Bouré Antoine-Félix Bouré (8 July 1831 – 8 April 1883), known in his own time as Félix Bouré but sometimes found in modern scholarship as Antoine Bouré, was a Belgian sculptor, best known for his monumental sculpture, monumental lions. Life an ...

(1831–1883) was also a sculptor, known for his monumental lions and his statue of the Gallic leader

Ambiorix Ambiorix (Gaulish "king of the surroundings", or "king-protector") ( 54–53 BC) was, together with Cativolcus, prince of the Eburones, leader of a Belgic tribe of north-eastern Gaul (Gallia Belgica), where modern Belgium is located. In the ...

on the monumental gate of

Berchem Berchem () is a southern Districts of Antwerp, district of the municipality and city of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. Berchem is located along the old ''Grote Steenweg'' (Dutch language, Dutch for 'Big Paved Road') that has connected ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

.Edmond Marchal, ''La sculpture et les chefs-d'œuvre de l'orfèvrerie belges'' (Brussels, 1895), p. 696
online
.

Notes

Sources

* "Bouré, Paul Joseph," Belgian Art Links and Tools

* Edmond Marchal, ''La sculpture et les chefs-d'œuvre de l'orfèvrerie belges'' (Brussels, 1895), pp. 695–69
online.
*

Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (, ; , ) are a group of art museums in Brussels, Belgium. They are part of the institutions of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) and consist of six museums: the Oldmasters Museum, the ...

, Fabritiu
online catalogue
several examples of Bouré's sculptures with images {{DEFAULTSORT:Boure, Paul 1823 births 1848 deaths 19th-century Belgian sculptors 19th-century Belgian male artists