FLAMEN, Anselme - b. 1647 St Omer, Pas-de-Calais, d. 1717 Paris

French sculptor. A pupil of Gaspard Marsy, he studied at the Académie de France in Rome from 1675 to 1679. On his return he was employed to carve decorative stone sculptures on the façades of the château of Versailles, including a statue of Erato (1681-82; in situ). In 1681 he was received (reçu) as a member of the Académie Royale with an oval bas-relief of St Jerome (marble; Versailles, Notre-Dame). He assisted Marsy with a number of fountains and groups for the gardens at Versailles and after Marsy’s death completed from his models the tomb of Anne, Duc de Noailles for St Paul, Paris (marble and bronze, 1683; destroyed), and the group Rape of Oreithyia by Boreas for Versailles (marble, 1684-87; Paris, Louvre). He made numerous contributions to the royal building projects of the reign of Louis XIV, including a copy of the antique group Faun with a Kid (marble, 1685-6) and a statue of Cyparissus (marble, 1687) for the gardens at Versailles (both in situ), as well as stucco decoration for the Salon de l’Oeil de Boeuf (1701; in situ) within the palace and statues of St Philip, St Bartholomew and St Irenaeus (stone, 1707; in situ) for the exterior of the chapel.

Angel with the Lance

Several sculptors were involved in creating the six large bronze angels, holding instruments of the Passion, which form part of the Vow of Louis XIII scheme on the high altar of Notre-Dame in Paris. The sculptors included Anselme Flamen who contributed the rather heavy if expressive Angel with the Lance, typical of his style, where a certain stockiness invests the proportions of his figures.