Charles Gauthier (; 7 December 1831 – 5 January 1891) was a French sculptor who was made a

Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was o ...

in 1872."GAUTHIER, Charles." ''Benezit Dictionary of Artists, Oxford Art Online'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. Retrieved 23 June 2014.

Career

Gauthier was born in Chauvirey-le-Châtel. He enrolled at the

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

in Paris on 6 April 1854, where he studied under

François Jouffroy François Jouffroy (; 1 February 1806 – 25 June 1882) was a French sculptor. Biography Jouffroy was born in Dijon, France, the son of a baker, and attended the local drawing school before being admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in ...

. He won a silver medal at the 1861

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

and was awarded medals in 1865, 1866 and 1869. He exhibited at the Salon between 1859 and 1882. He died in Paris. Gauthier's allegorical statue entitled ''Moderation'' was placed in the foyer of the

Paris Opera House 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 ...

in 1873. A plaster model for the statue exists in the collections of the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

. His ''Young Poacher'' (Fr. ''Jeune braconnier'') is on display in the grounds of the

Château de Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau ( , ; ), located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the French monarchs, includ ...

Sculpture of Cleopatra

Following restoration, a plaster sculpture of the suicide of

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

, previously thought to be by Albert Darcq, was revealed to be a work by Charles Gauthier after Gauthier's signature was discovered during cleaning. The sculpture was acquired by the French government from the Salon of 1880, then sent to the French embassy in

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

, then to

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

(home of Darcq) in 1886 and finally to the

Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille The Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille (''Lille Palace of Fine Arts'') is a municipal museum dedicated to fine arts, modern art, and antiquities located in Lille. It is one of the largest art museums in France. It was one of the first museums built i ...

where the restoration took place.

Statue of Sergent Blandan

The statue of Sergent Blandan (Jean Pierre Hippolyte Blandan), French army hero of Algeria, was commissioned from Gauthier following a public competition. The statue once stood in

Boufarik Boufarik is a town in Blida Province, Algeria, approximately 30 km from Algiers. In 2008, its population was 57,162.popul ...

, but following Algerian independence it was moved to France in 1963, where it was placed in the courtyard of a barracks in Nancy. In 1990, it was moved to

Rue du Sergent Blandan The Rue du Sergent Blandan () is one of the oldest streets of Lyon. It connects Saint Vincent and the slopes of the Croix-Rousse quarters, in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon. The street starts at the Rue Pareille, runs along the Place Sathonay, ...

in Nancy.LE SERGENT BLANDAN LYON-BOUFARIK-NANCY
2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.

Selected works

*''

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

''. Bronze. Collegiate church of St-Quentin. *'' Our Lady of Humility''. Plaster. Church at Argenteuil. *''St Matthew''. Stone. Church of the Trinity. *''Young Poacher''. 1872. Marble. Château de Fontainebleau. *''Moderation''. 1873. Paris Opera House. *''Andromeda''. 1875. Marble. Musée d'Orsay.Charles Gauthier: ''Andromède''
Musée d'Orsay, 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014. *''Cleopatra''. 1880. Plaster. Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille. *''Sergent Blandan''. c. 1886–87. Rue Sergent Blandan, Nancy.

References

External links