Jean Baptiste Carpeaux

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux was the son of a stonemasonwhoapprenticedthe boy toa plasterer in Valenciennes, France.While serving as an apprentice,Carpeaux studied painting, sculpture, and architecture at a local academy. In 1838, heand his family moved to Paris, where his teachers at"the free school of drawing" encouraged him to become an artist instead of a tradesman. Carpeauxstudied for five years at the French Academy in Rome, then returned to Paris, where he created portraits of the royal family and largeallegorical sculptures. In the early 1870s, scarcities of materials caused by the Franco-Prussian War meant that Carpeaux could no longer afford to create large-scale sculptures. Instead, he worked on small editions of his popular works that could be sold easily to collectors.