Denis Foyatier (21 September 1793 at Bussières, Loire – 19 November 1863 at Paris) was a French sculptor in the neoclassical style.

Denis Foyatier
Born(1793-09-21)21 September 1793
Died19 November 1863(1863-11-19) (aged 70)
Paris
NationalityFrench
EducationÉcole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris
French Academy in Rome
Known forSculpture
Notable workSpartacus
MovementNeoclassicism

Biography

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Foyatier was the child of a family of modest means (his father was a weaver and later a farmer at Bezin, a hamlet near Bussières, Loire). He started by working on religious figures, while taking a design course at Lyon. In 1817, he entered the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts ("National Higher School for Arts and Crafts") in Paris. In 1819 he exhibited his first pieces and, aged 26, was awarded a scholarship for the French Academy in Rome at the Villa Médicis.

At the Villa Médicis he created the mould for his piece Spartacus, which is very well known. A Royal Command of 1828 for a production in marble made him famous.

After a brilliant career as a sculptor and painter, he died on 19 November 1863 and is buried in the Petit-Clamart cemetery in a suburb of Paris.

Some of Foyatier's works have been lost; several were melted down during the Second World War.

He was the father-in-law of the sculptor Jules Blanchard.

Places

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Several towns have named streets after him:

and some smaller communes in the Loire department:

Works

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Statue of Joan of Arc in the Place du Martroi, Orléans

Sources

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  • Kjellberg, Pierre (1988). Le Nouveau guide des statues de Paris [New Guide to Paris Statues] (in French). Paris: La Bibliothèque des Arts.
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