Francisque Joseph Duret

Francisque Joseph Duret studied at Beaux-Arts de Paris and French Academy in Rome. Training under François-Joseph Duret is recorded. Martial Thabard and Edouard Lanteri are recorded as having studied under Francisque Joseph Duret. The recorded working language is French. Places of work recorded in the authority are Paris. Employment is recorded with Beaux-Arts de Paris. Works named in the authority record are Female Warrior on Horseback. Work by Francisque Joseph Duret is recorded in the collections of Nationalmuseum, Musée des Augustins, Musée Carnavalet and Museum Baron Martin. Distinctions recorded are Knight of the Legion of Honour, Officer of the Legion of Honour and Prix de Rome.

Before becoming a sculptor, Francisque Duret had shown interest in pursuing a career in theater. He studied for a brief time at the Conservatoire and his friend Charles Blanc (1813-1882), in an article which he dedicated in 1866, attested to the quality of observing human behavior which Duret had acquired outside his studies of drama: "His continual studies of the pantomime led him to pin down the language of gesture and the meaning of each disposition". Finally, it was the work of the sculptor which he decided to pursue. After his tutelage under his father, who passed when Duret was but twelve years old, he also studied under Bosio, and won the Prix de Rome in 1823, which he shared with Augustin Dumont for the bas-relief Evandre sur le corps de son fils Pallas. He remained in Italy until 1828. Upon his return to Paris, he received numerous official commissions which assured him of his prestige alongside his work as professor at l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where he had among his students Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Jules Dalou as well as Louis-Léon Cugnot. In 1833 he exhibited his Neapolitan Fisher Dancing the Tarantella, now in the Louvre, a spirited statue in bronze, which established his reputation. In the same class is his Neapolitan Improvisatore (1839, Leipzig Museum). His works executed for public buildings include: France Protecting her Children (1855), a group in the grand style for the Louvre; two bronze atlantes at Napoleon's tomb in the Invalides; a colossal Christ in the church of the Madeleine; the statues of Comedy and Tragedy for the Théâtre Français; marble statues of Dunois, Philippe of France, Chateaubriand, and Richelieu at Versailles; and the group for the Fontaine Saint-Michel, representing that saint wrestling with Satan. One of his works, Grape-picker Extemporizing, made in 1839, shows a man playing a mandolin. The sculpture shows the instrument in the period when its popularity had declined outside of Italy. The instrument had left the concert halls, becoming a folk instrument. He received the medal of honor in 1855, was an Officer in the Legion of Honor, and was made a member of the Institut de France in 1845.

• Illustration — Neapolitan Fisher Dancing the Tarantella, 1833 • Illustration — Grape-picker Extemporizing,1839 • Illustration — Cirque d'hiver Paris • Illustration — Fontaine Saint-Michel, Paris • Illustration — The tragedy (musée des Augustins, Toulouse), c. 1851-1875

The authorities additionally record the headings Francois Joseph Duret and Francisque Duret. His recorded language was French. He was the child of François-Joseph Duret.

Francisque Joseph Duret is recorded as having received Knight of the Legion of Honour, Officer of the Legion of Honour and Prix de Rome.