French sculpture has been an original and influential component of world art since the Middle Ages. The first known French sculptures date to the Upper Paleolithic age. French sculpture originally copied ancient Roman models, then found its own original form in the decoration of Gothic architecture. French sculptors produced important works of Baroque sculpture for the decoration of the Palace of Versailles. In the 19th century, the sculptors Auguste Rodin and Edgar Degas created a more personal and non-realistic style, which led the way to modernism in the 20th century, and the sculpture of Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Marcel Duchamp and Jean Arp.
Prehistory The earliest undisputed examples of sculpture belong to the Aurignacian culture, which was located in Europe and southwest Asia and active at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. As well as producing some of the earliest known cave art, the people of this culture developed finely crafted stone tools, manufacturing pendants, bracelets, ivory beads, and bone-flutes, as well as three-dimensional figurines.P. Mellars, Archeology and the Dispersal of Modern Humans in Europe: Deconstructing the Aurignacian, Evolutionary Anthropology, vol. 15 (2006), pp. 167–82.
Two of the largest prehistoric sculptures can be found at the Tuc d'Audobert caves in France, where around 12–17,000 years ago a sculptor used a spatula-like stone tool and fingers to model a pair of large bison in clay against a limestone rock.
Human forms and animals were common in the early sculpture, often in the form of bas-relief. Figures expressed emotion, and were often distorted; the forms of women were often strangely obese. The Venus of Laussel is one of the earliest examples.Jeancolas, Sculpture Française, pg. 1 With the beginning of the Mesolithic the amount of figurative sculpture diminished, and animals predominated, expressing mobility and vigor. In the later Mesolithic period, the sculpture became less realistic and turned toward abstract, ornamental decorative forms, which continued through the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The arrival of the Celts, Ligures and Iberian peoples did not radically change the style. Human forms were usually carves simply as stylized silhouettes. On the coast of the Mediterranean, sculptors made friezes of warriors and various deities seated with their legs crossed.
Gallo-Roman and Carolingian The Roman conquest of Gaul imposed the Roman style, featuring realism and celebration of grandeur and power. Gallo-Roman sculptors of Gaul modified the Roman style to make it more delicate and personal. Sculpture flourished in the form of statuettes, bronze vases, and subjects on domestic and religious themes. Early Christian symbolism soon appeared in sculptural works such as sarcophagi, but it was largely discouraged by church leaders who feared a return to the worship of idols.Jeancolas, Sculpture Française, pg. 2–3
Gallic sculpture showed the influence not only of Roman sculpture, but also of Hellenic sculpture, from workshops in central Italy. One characteristic example is the statue of Medea in the Museum of Arles, from the 1st century.Georges and Daval, Jean-Luc, La Sculpture de l'Antiquité au XXe Siècle (2013), p. 220
The invasion of Roman Gaul by the Burgundians, Celtes, Visigoths slowed the development of sculpture beyond traditional decorative designs. The age of Charlemagne restored a certain prestige to the arts, but the sculpture was not original or skilled, and after the death of Charlemagne little important sculpture appeared until the reign of the Capetian dynasty (987–1328)
Romanesque sculpture Under the Capetian dynasty, the Kingdom of France was gradually returned to calm, stability and prosperity. A reform of the church and the founding of new religious orders led to important commands for sculptures, especially for the new Cluny Abbey (1088–1108) of the Benedictine order. Other Abbeys across France imitated its use of sculptural decoration.
The earliest sculptural decorations on altars and the interior surfaces of churches, on lintels, over doorways and particularly on the capitals of columns, which were commonly adorned with images of biblical figures and real or mythical animals. Most of the work was almost flat with little attempt at realism. Some of the earliest Romanesque sculpture in France is found at Saint-Génis-des-Fontaines Abbey (1019–1020) in the eastern Pyrenees. A lintel over a doorway portrays Christ on a throne, in a frame supported by two angels, and flanked by the apostles, The forms of the apostles are defined by the shapes of the arches into which they are squeezed. This "Christ in Majesty" design over the central doorway became a common feature for churches and Cathedrals across France in the Romanesqua dn Gothic period.
In the later Romanesque period, sculpture was often used to at the most important points, such as the facades, to emphasize the lines of the structure. It often used geometric designs (circles, squares, triangles). Spaces were crowded with figures, which were often contorted so they seemed to be dancing. The sculpture was most profuse on the capitals of columns and on the portals, where it was used to present very complex and extended biblical stories. Sculptors also depicted a large number of animals, both real and imaginary, including chimeras, sirens, lions, and a wide range of monsters. Imagination usually prevailed over realism.
The southwest of France, around Toulouse, had a particular style, more vivid and active than the north. A remarkable group of Romanesque sculpture is found in the decoration of the Basilica of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse in Toulouse, dating to the late 11th and early 12th century. The figures are much more realistic, and make skillful use of shadows and light to bring out the details. One of the most distinctive works is the altar table, signed by its sculptor, Bernardus Geldvinus. He also made the seven sculptural reliefs found in the ambulatory of the cathedral.
Other remarkable examples of Romaesque sculpture are found on the tympanum and the capitals of the columns of the cloister of Moissac Abbey in Mossac, Tarne-et-Garonne, and the columns of the abbey church of Saint-Marie in Souillac in the Lot Department. Sculptors in Burgundy also produced distinctive works for the decoration of the churches there, particularly for Saint-Philibert de Tournus Abbey (about 1100). The Typanum of Vézelay Abbey, a pilgrimage church dedicated by the Pope in 1132, shows the state of the art of Romanessque sculpture at the end of the Romanesque and beginning of the Gothic period.
Gothic sculpture At the beginning of the 12th century, a renewal of sculptural styles began in France. During years of peace, the birthrate had greatly increased, and larger churches and cathedrals were needed. The cathedral replaced the abbey as the major religious institution, and the Bishop replaced the Abbot as the primary figure determining artistic style. The interiors of churches were higher, with larger windows, and filled with light, calling for a different kind of sculpture. The exteriors were also much higher, and needed statuary visible and readable from down below. Sculptors abandoned the exotic foliage borrowed from earlier sculptural styles, such as the acanthus and palmetto, in favor of more local forms, such as the grape leaf and oak leaf pattern. The human forms were no longer twisted and tortured to fit the space; they took on a more natural appearance. The sculpture was expected to be a book written in stone, for the worshippers to read. Abbot Suger, who directed the construction of the first Gothic abbey in Saint-Denis, observed, "Art conducts human souls by the use of material things to reach the immaterial." One Gothic sculptural innovation, borrowed from the ancient Greeks, was the column in the form of a human figure, Another was the use of sculpture of various mythical creatures, such as the gargoyle and the chimera, to warn the faithful of the dangers outside the church. (The gargoyles also had the practical application of projecting rain water away from the walls.)Jeancolas, Sculpture Française, pg. 4–5
Renaissance
In the 14th century, Archeological excavations in Rome and Florence led to the rediscovery of classical statuary, and the beginning of the Renaissance. Small bronze models of the classical works were imported and sold to wealthy French patrons, and French artists began to visit Italy to see for themselves. Charles VIII brought artists from Naples and Florence to Paris. Louis XII employed Italian sculptors. Francis I invited Leonardo da Vinci, Francesco Primaticcio and Benvenuto Cellini to work in France. They formed new style and school of art, the School of Fontainebleau, for the decoration of his chateau. He sent Primaticcio back to Italy to acquire molds of classical sculpture; he returned with 133 cases of sculpture. Despite this Italian competition, the best-known French sculptors, including Ligier Richier and Michel Colombe, continued to work in the traditional Gothic style, particularly in the statuary of tombs. Michel Colombe made an elegant Tomb of Francis II, Duke of Brittany (1502–07) with a statue of his daughter, Anne of Brittany, as Prudence at his side. Richier made a particularly Gothic sculpture of a martyred saint, the Cadaver Tomb of René of Chalon portraying René of Chalon as he would look three years after his death, a decayed corpse holding his own heart in his hand.Jeancolas, Sculpture Française (1992), pg. 6–8)
The first major French sculptor of the Renaissance was Jean Goujon (1510–1565), also a noted graphic illustrator, whose work in bas-relief perfectly captured and refined the Italian style. He arrived in Paris in 1544 and worked closely with the architect Pierre Lescot on the decoration of the Louvre, the Fontaine des Innocents, several figures for the facade of the Hôtel de Ville, Paris, and a group of bas reliefs of the Four Seasons, made for the courtyard façade of the hôtel of Jacques de Ligeris, now in the Musee Carnavalet in Paris. Goujon was a Protestant, and in 1562, when the French Wars of Religion began, he left France for Italy, where he is believed to have died in 1563.
Other notable sculptors of the French Renaissance included Pierre Bontemps (1505–1568), collaborator with architect Philibert Delorme. He was the principal creator of the sculpture of the tomb of Francis I, which displayed his precise knowledge of anatomy and his ability to vividly portray a multitude of battles, scenes and personalities, in fifty-four separate bas-reliefs around the base of the tomb.
Germain Pilon (1535–1590) was another major figure. He was a pupil of Bontemps, a fierce proponent of the Catholic side in the Wars of Religion and Counter-Reform. He was also an excellent portraitist and student of anatomy and detail. His major works included a monument for the heart of Henry II, based on a drawing of Francesco Primaticcio, the tombs of Henry II and Catherine de Medicis, and a variety of other religious works.