NANTEUIL, Charles-François - b. 1792 Paris, d. 1865 Paris

French sculptor. He studied with Pierre Cartellier at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, assimilating a classicizing notion of ‘ideal beauty’ that lasted throughout his career. He won the Prix de Rome in 1817 and in Rome in 1822 carved the marble Dying Eurydice (Paris, Louvre), which made a notable début at the Salon of 1824 and later inspired Auguste Clésinger’s erotic marble Woman Bitten by a Snake (1847; Paris, Musée d’Orsay). Nanteuil was an accomplished portrait sculptor, producing many busts, including those of the painter Prud’hon (marble, 1828; Paris, Louvre) and of his fellow-fighter against Romanticism, the Neoclassical art critic Quatremère de Quincy (marble, Salon of 1850; Paris, Institut France).

The Virgin and Child with Adoring Angels

Although Neo-Gothic predominated in this period, all the churches with a porch sheltered by a portico, which were imitations of antique temples and Early Christian basilicas, required sculpted pediments.

The pretty pediment of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette was executed by Nanteuil who sought to create an impression of depth.