Auguste-Louis-Marie Jenks Ottin (1811–1890) was a French academic sculptor and recipient of the decoration of the Legion of Honor.

Early life

Ottin was born and died in Paris, where he was a pupil of David d'Angers and of the École des Beaux Arts. Ottin was a friend of

Théodore Chassériau Théodore Chassériau (; ; September 20, 1819 – October 8, 1856) was a Dominican-born French Romantic painter noted for his portraits, historical and religious paintings, allegorical murals, and Orientalist images inspired by his travels to A ...

, a pupil in the atelier of Ingres, who in 1833 produced a black chalk portrait of Ottin. (Presented to the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

, Washington, in 2006.) Ottin obtained the Grand Prix de Sculpture at the Concours of 1836 with his statue of "Socrate Buvant la Ciguë.".Obituary, "August Louis Marie Ottin," ''New York Times,'' January 11, 1891

Exhibitions

Ottin was responsible for the assembly in 1834 of the vast '' surtout de table'' of hunting vignettes, commissioned for the

Tuileries Garden The Tuileries Garden (, ) is a public garden between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. Created by Catherine de' Medici as the garden of the Tuileries Palace in 1564, it was opened to the public in ...

by Louis-Philippe's heir, Ferdinand-Philippe, duc d'Orléans, and entrusted to the supervision of Claude-Aimé Chenavard, who gave much of the sculptural work to Antoine-Louis Barye, the celebrated ''

animalier An animalier (, ) is an artist, mainly from the 19th century, who specializes in, or is known for, skill in the realistic portrayal of animals. "Animal painter" is the more general term for earlier artists. Although the work may be in any genre ...

''. In 1836 he shared with Jean-Marie Bonnassieux the Grand Prix de Rome for a sculpture of ''Socrates drinking the draft''. One vestige of his Roman sojourn of 1836-1840 is a ''View of Rome'', 1837, in graphite and watercolor, at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. His portrait bust of the painter and Director of the Academy,

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( ; ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...

, executed shortly after his return to Paris in 1840, in plaster, tinted terracotta, is conserved by the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...

, Paris. Ottin exhibited in 1841 a bust in marble, and afterward produced a group of "Hercules Presenting to Eurysthea the Apples of Hesperides," in marble; busts of Chaptal, Quesnault, Ingres, (1842); and Ecce Homo, in marble, (1844). His 1846 "Indian Hunter Surprised by a Boa" in bronze resulted in the awarding of a medal and was a featured piece under the center dome of the New York Crystal Palace in 1853,''Art and Industry: As Represented in the Exhibition at the Crystal Palace''; Greeley, Horace; Redfield; (New York, 1853); p. 59 and was later mounted at Fontainebleau Chateau outside Paris. His ''Travail manuel'' is at the

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

. Ottin's ''Laure de Noves'' (1850),

Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...

's Laura, is one of a series of Queens of France and historical ladies that had been commissioned for the

Jardin du Luxembourg The Jardin du Luxembourg (), known in English as the Luxembourg Garden, colloquially referred to as the Jardin du Sénat (Senate Garden), is located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. The creation of the garden began in 1612 when Mar ...

under

Louis-Philippe Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, and the last French monarch to bear the title "King". He abdicated from his throne ...

. About the same time he was commissioned to provide the sculptural elements for a room in an old palazzo in

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 ...

, via de’ Renai, that was designed as an homage to the social utopian

Charles Fourier François Marie Charles Fourier (; ; 7 April 1772 – 10 October 1837) was a French philosopher, an influential early socialist thinker, and one of the founders of utopian socialism. Some of his views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have be ...

by an admirer of his philosophy, François Sabatier-Unger, who had recently wed the palazzo's owner, the Austrian singer, Caroline Unger. During the Second Empire, he executed a full-length official sculpture of

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

, which is still at

Compiègne Compiègne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Oise Departments of France, department of northern France. It is located on the river Oise (river), Oise, and its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois'' (). Administration Compiègne is t ...

. In 1866 he was commissioned to provide a sculptural centrepiece for the Medici Fountain in the

, one of the few survivals of

Salomon de Brosse Salomon de Brosse (c. 1571 – 8 December 1626) was an early 17th-century French architect who moved away from late Mannerism to reassert the French Baroque architecture, French classical style and was a major influence on François Mansart. ...

's gardens for

Marie de Medici Marie de' Medici (; ; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV. Marie served as regent of France between 1610 and 1617 during the minority of her son Louis XIII. Her mandate as regent ...

; the '' nymphaeum'' of rockwork in an architectural frame was being moved from its former location to make way for widening of a carriageway, part of

Baron Haussmann Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

's improvements. The result was his best-known work, ''Polyphemus Surprising Acis and Galatea'', where the bronze giant crouches above the rocky

grotto A grotto or grot is a natural or artificial cave or covered recess. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or often flooded at high tide. Sometimes, artificial grottoes are used as garden fea ...

in which Galatea lies in the arms of Acis, who leans on his elbow in the manner of a river god—which he is just about to become: see

Acis The 3D ACIS Modeler (ACIS) is a geometric modeling kernel developed by Spatial Corporation (formerly Spatial Technology), part of Dassault Systèmes. ACIS is used by software developers in industries such as computer-aided design, computer-ai ...

. His Pan and Diana in marble accompany the group. In the new Square Emile-Chautemps at Le Sentier, Paris IIIème, among the sculptural figures enhancing two oval pools under the general artistic direction of Gabriel Davioud, Ottin was entrusted with seated bronze figures of ''Mercury'' and Music''. In the extensive sculptural programme of the

Palais Garnier The (, Garnier Palace), also known as (, Garnier Opera), is a historic 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at the ...

for the Opera, Ottin was entrusted with ''La Musique'' and ''La Danse'' seated figures leaning on a central medallion in the arched pediment on the west-facing facade. He also provided standing females representing northern French cities for the less-demanding programme of the

Gare du Nord The Gare du Nord (; ), officially Paris Nord, is one of the seven large mainline railway station termini in Paris, France. The station is served by trains that run between the capital and northern France via the Paris–Lille railway, as well ...

Among similar commissions are his statues of Euthymenes and

Pytheas Pytheas of Massalia (; Ancient Greek: Πυθέας ὁ Μασσαλιώτης ''Pythéās ho Massaliōtēs''; Latin: ''Pytheas Massiliensis''; born 350 BC, 320–306 BC) was a Greeks, Greek List of Graeco-Roman geographers, geographer, explo ...

for the Bourse, Marseille.Euthymenes
an

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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ottin, Auguste French architectural sculptors Prix de Rome for sculpture 1811 births 1890 deaths 19th-century French sculptors French male sculptors 19th-century French male artists

Early life

Exhibitions

References

Further reading

External links