Maxime Real del Sarte (May 2, 1888 – February 15, 1954) was a French sculptor and political activist.

Biography

Early life

Maxime Real del Sarte was born on 2 May 1888 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, as the son of the sculptor Louis Desire Real and Marie Magdeleine Real del Sarte. He was a cousin of the painter Thérèse Geraldy and was also related to the composer

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', w ...

.Judith Keene, ''Fighting For Franco: International Volunteers in Nationalist Spain during the Spanish Civil War'', Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007, pp. 145-14

/ref> He graduated from 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 ...

, and by 1911 was at the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

, where both his mother and an aunt were teachers. He served in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, in the 106th Infantry Regiment of the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

and had his left arm amputated in 1916 after being wounded at

Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...

on 29 January.Jay Winter, ''Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History'', Cambridge University Press, 1998, p. 8

/ref>

Sculpture

He was a member of the '' Société des Artistes Français'' and exhibited with them from early in his career. He won the ''Grand Prix national des Beaux-Arts'' in 1921 for ''Le premier toit'' .Elizabeth Karlsgodt, ''Defending National Treasures: French Art and Heritage Under Vichy'', Stanford University Press, 2011, p. 17

/ref> He designed over fifty war memorials in France, including the '' List of works by Maxime Real del Sarte#The Ferme de Navarin Monument. Souhain in Oise, Monument aux morts des Armées de Champagne'' at the Ferme de Navarin at Suippes, which depicts both French and US soldiers (this design was also produced as a medallic plaque). He also designed many statues of

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...

, including one in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

placed effectively on the site where she was executed (1928).Eugen Weber, ''Action Française: Royalism and Reaction in Twentieth Century France'', Stanford University Press, 1962, p. 19

/ref> Additionally, he designed busts for the Dukes of Guise and Orleans, and a List of works by Maxime Real del Sarte, monument to King Edward VII at Biarritz (1922).

Politics

He became involved with the right-wing Action française, where he became associated with Charles Maurras, Léon Daudet, Jacques Bainville, Maurice Pujo, Henri Vaugeois and Léon de Montesquiou.Eugen Weber, ''The Nationalist Revival in France, 1905-1914'', University of California Press, 1959, p. 6

/ref> He founded and led the royalist organisation Camelots du roi.Marina Warner, ''Joan of Arc: The Image of Female Heroism'', Oxford University Press, 2013, p. 24

/ref> He was a devout and fervent Roman Catholic and a huge admirer of Joan of Arc. When he found out that Francois Thalamas, a Professor at the Lycee Condorcet who was critical of Joan of Arc, was to give lectures at the Sorbonnes, he made sure to disrupt their course with his collaborators. He founded the organization "Les Compagnons de Jeanne d'Arc". He was wounded in an anti-parliamentary clash on 6 February 1934. His statue of General Charles Mangin, which was made thanks to a subscription launched by Marshal Foch and erected on the Place Denys-Cochin, was destroyed by the Germans who occupied Paris in October 1940, on the express orders of Adolf Hitler, one of only two statues in Paris he ordered destroyed. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was awarded a medal by the

Vichy regime Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...

Death

He died on 15 February 1954 near Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

References