DURET, Francisque-Joseph

(b. 1804 Paris, d. 1865 Paris)

French sculptor. Son of a sculptor of the same name (1729-1816) and a pupil of François-Joseph Bosio, he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1818 and won the Prix de Rome in 1823. Among his works executed at the Académie de France in Rome is Orestes Mad (marble, c. 1825; Avignon, Musée Calvet), a colossal head modelled after the Antique that is at the same time a self-portrait, and Mercury Inventing the Lyre (marble; destroyed), an elegant statue much praised at the 1831 Salon.

Journeys from Rome to Naples resulted in Neapolitan Fisherboy Dancing the Tarantella (bronze, exhibited Salon 1833; Paris, Louvre), which was executed on his return to Paris and was one of the earliest Neapolitan genre subjects in French 19th-century art. In this work Duret reconciled classical form with modern subject-matter and the freedom of modelling allowed by working in bronze. Its popularity led to reduced-scale bronze editions by the founder P.-M. Delafontaine, who also reproduced in this fashion Duret’s Grape-picker Extemporizing (bronze, 1839; Paris, Louvre).

Chactas Meditating on Atala's Tomb

To differentiate themselves from Neoclassicism, Romantic artists sought new sources of inspiration in the literature and world of fantasy peculiar to each country. Following the painters, Romantic sculptors drew on such sources as Dante, Shakespeare, Tasso and Ariosto, as well as contemporary novelists. Chateaubriand made Red Indians the fashion (Chactas) and also the Druids (Vell�da).

Send Postcard Learn More

Grape-picker Extemporizing

The statue was exhibited at the Salon of 1839. The original is in the Louvre, Paris, this replica was made by the Quesnel foundry c. 1850.

Send Postcard Learn More

Neapolitan Fisherman Dancing the Tarantella

At the Salon of 1833, Duret’s Neapolitan Fisherman Dancing the Tarantella was exhibited. It created a sensation by the freedom of its charming youthful attitude and the picturesqueness of its costume.

Destined to have a great success, as evidenced by the large number of editions, the Fisherman initiated in sculpture the picturesque trend which was already firmly established in painting and literature.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 4 minutes):

Gioacchino Rossini: La Danza

Send Postcard Learn More

Victory

Send Postcard Learn More