Artist name: Lequesne, Eugène Louis
Other name: Le Quesne, Eugène Louis
Wr.-attrib. name: Lequesne, Eugène Francois
Sex: m
Artist occupation: sculptor
Geographical data: France
State: France
Date of birth: 1815.02.15
Place of birth: Paris
Date of death: 1887.06.03
Place of death: Paris
Place(s) cited: Paris
It was only after obtaining a law degree that Lequesne
entered Pradier's studio in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in
1841. The following year he went to Italy, and from there
he sent his first works to the Salon. He won the grand
prize for sculpture in 1844, and returned to Rome for
five years. He also won a first class medal in 1851. Following
his 1855 exhibition he was made a Chevalier of the Legion
of Honour It is not surprising that one of his primary
inspirations was antiquity. He executed a number of busts,
as well as, many decorative sculptures for Parisian monuments
including the Louvre (the front of the Mollien pavilion),
the Opera, the Gare du Nord, and the Palais de Justice
(statues of the Force, Justice, Innocence, and Crime on
the north side of the façade). He also produced
statues of famous people for different cities of France,
and a work in copper of the Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde for
the Marseille basilica (1870). At the Luxembourg gardens
is found his Faune dansant, a bronze of 2 meters high
cast by Eck and Durand and exhibited at the Salon in 1857,
and a statuette entitled Lesbie in 1868 (both in bronze).
Also among the works sent to the Salon are a plaster entitled
Pretresse de Bacchus in 1887, and a bronze casting of
the Faune dansant. His allegories include Industry and
Sculpture (both in Amiens Museum) and Vercingetroix conquering
the Romans (Chartres).
Museums
Louvre
Amiens
Bordeaux
Lille
Roanne
Versailles
Chartres
References
Benezit, E. Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs,
et Graveurs, Gründ, 1999.
Thieme-Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon Der Bildenden Künstler
Von Der Antike Bis Zur Gegenwart,1999
Kjellberg, P. Bronzes of the 19th Century, A Dictionary
of Sculptors, 1992
MacKay, J. A dictionary of Western Sculptors in Bronze,
1976
Berman, H. Bronzes- Sculptors and Founders, 1987
Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication;
La Sculpture Francaise au XIXe Siecle, 1986.
Forrest, M., Art Bronzes, 1988
