THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT
 

Pierre Jean David d'Angers.
 

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers Pierre-Jean David d’Angers, (born March 12, 1789, Angers, France—died Jan. 4, 1856, Paris), French sculptor, who sought to honour the heroes of modern times by means of an expressive form that could appeal to and inspire a broad public. David, the son of a carver, went to Paris as a teenager with 11 francs in his pocket to study at the École des Beaux-Arts under Philippe-Laurent Roland. After struggling financially for a year and a half, he received a small annuity from the municipality of Angers. In 1811 he won the Prix de Rome and, during his years of study in Rome, established his mission to devote his art to human grandeur. Returning to Paris in 1816 after a short visit to London, he received many important commissions. One of his first works in Paris, the Condé (lost; model at the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Angers), showed his new tendency toward a dramatic realist approach. In 1827 he visited England, and in 1828 and 1834 he visited Germany. Always a liberal in politics, he had to leave France for a short period after the coup d’état of December 1851. Many of the most famous men and women of his time sat for David for busts or medallions. A nearly complete collection, originals or copies, is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Angers. Among David’s most important works are the pediment of the Panthéon, showing the key liberal figures in France since the 18th century grouped round a figure of La Patrie; the Gutenberg monument at Strasbourg; the monument to General Gobert in the Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris; the Philopoemen in the Louvre; and the bust of Goethe, presented by him to the poet in 1831, in the public library at Weimar, Ger. Encyclopædia Britannica

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. Sorrow
1811
Plaster, height 55 cm
Private collection

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. The Death of Epaminondas
1811
Plaster bas-relief, 110 x 150 cm
Private collection

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. Nereid Bringing the Helmet of Achilles
1815
Plaster bas-relief, 107 x 183 cm
Private collection

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. Young Shepherd
1816
Marble, height 150 cm
Private collection

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. Conde
1817
Bronze, height 39 cm
Musee du Louvre, Paris

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. General Bonchamps
1819-25
Marble, statue height 130 cm
Church, Saint-Florent-le-Vieil

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. Mademoiselle Mars
1825
Marble, height 60 cm
Private collection

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. Tomb of the Comte de Bourcke
1826
Marble
Pere-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. Young Greek on the Tomb of Markos Botsaris
1827
Plaster model, 65 x 120 cm
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Angers

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. Philopoemen
1830
Marble, height 246 cm
Musee du Louvre, Paris

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. Chateaubriand
1830
Plaster, height 60 cm
Private collection

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. Niccolo Paganini
1830
Bronze, 60 x 30 cm
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Angers

 

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. Monument to General Gobert
1847
Stone
Pere-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. Alfred de Musset
1831
Cast bronze, diameter 17,2 cm
Private collection

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. François Arago
1832
Bronze medallion
Private collection

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. Marceline Valmore
1832
Bronze medal, diameter 15 cm
Musee du Louvre, Paris

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. Niccolo Paganini
1834
Cast bronze, diameter 15 cm
Private collection

Pierre-Jean David d’Angers. Pediment relief of the Pantheon
1830-37
Stone, height 600 cm, width 3.080 cm
Place du Pantheon, Paris