Auguste Ottin
Encyclopedia
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
1811–Paris 1890) was a French academic sculptor and recipient of the decoration of the Legion of Honor.
Early life
Born in Paris in 1811, Ottin was a pupil of David d'Angers and of the École des Beaux Arts. Ottin was a friend of Théodore ChassériauThéodore Chassériau
Théodore Chassériau was a French romantic painter noted for his portraits, historical and religious paintings, allegorical murals, and Orientalist images inspired by his travels to Algeria.-Life and work:...
, a pupil in the atélier of Ingres, who in 1833 produced a black chalk portrait of Ottin. (Presented to the National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...
, Washington, in 2006.) Ottin obtained the Grand Prix de Sculpture at the Concours of 1836 with his statue of "Socrate Buvant la Ciguë.".
Exhibitions
Ottin was responsible for the assembly in 1834 of the vast surtout de table of hunting vignettes, commissioned for the Tuileries GardenTuileries Garden
The Tuileries Garden is a public garden located between the Louvre Museum and the Place de la Concorde in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. Created by Catherine de Medicis as the garden of the Tuileries Palace in 1564, it was first opened to the public in 1667, and became a public park after the...
by Louis-Philippe's heir, Ferdinand-Philippe, duc d'Orléans
Prince Ferdinand-Philippe d'Orléans
Ferdinand Philippe d'Orléans was Prince Royal of France. Born Ferdinand Philippe Louis Charles Henri Joseph d'Orléans in Palermo, Italy, he was the eldest son of the future king Louis-Philippe of France and Princess Marie Amalie of Bourbon-Sicilies.-Early life:Born in Palermo during his parents'...
, and entrusted to the supervision of Claude-Aimé Chenavard
Claude-Aimé Chenavard
Claude-Aimé Chenavard, a French decorative painter and draughtsman, was born at Lyons in 1798. He published Nouveau Recueil de Decorations intérieures, 1833-1835, and Album de L'Ornemaniste, 1835. He died in Paris in 1838.-References:...
, who gave much of the sculptural work to Antoine-Louis Barye
Antoine-Louis Barye
Antoine-Louis Barye was a French sculptor most famous for his work as an animalier, a sculptor of animals.-Biography:Born in Paris, Barye began his career as a goldsmith, like many sculptors of the Romantic Period...
, the celebrated animalier
Animalier
An animalier is an artist, mainly from the 19th century, who specializes in, or is known for, skill in the realistic portrayal of animals. "Animal painter" is the more general term for earlier artists...
. In 1836 he shared with Jean-Marie Bonnassieux
Jean-Marie Bonnassieux
Jean-Marie Bienaimé Bonnassieux was a French sculptor.The son of a cabinet maker from Lyon, Bonnassieux showed talent as a boy and was educated at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, under Augustin-Alexandre Dumont...
the Grand Prix de Rome for a sculpture of Socrates drinking the draft. One vestige of his Roman sojourn of 1836-40 is a View of Rome, 1837, in graphite and watercolor, at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, comprising the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco and one of the largest art museums in California.-External...
.
His portrait bust of the painter and Director of the Academy, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, executed shortly after his return to Paris in 1840, in plaster, tinted terracotta, is conserved by the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts
École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts
The École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts is the distinguished National School of Fine Arts in Paris, France.The École des Beaux-arts is made up of a vast complex of buildings located at 14 rue Bonaparte, between the quai Malaquais and the rue Bonaparte, in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Près,...
, Paris.
Ottin exhibited in 1841 a bust in marble, and afterward produced a group of "Hercules Presenting to Eurysthea the Apples of Hesperides," in marble; busts of Chaptal, Quesnault, Ingres, (1842); and Ecce Homo, in marble, (1844). His 1846 "Indian Hunter Surprised by a Boa" in bronze resulted in the awarding of a medal and was a featured piece under the center dome of the New York Crystal Palace
New York Crystal Palace
New York Crystal Palace was an exhibition building constructed for the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York City in 1853, which was under the presidency of Mayor Jacob Aaron Westervelt...
in 1853, and was later mounted at Fountainebleau Chateau outside Paris.
His Travail manuel is at the Louvre Museum. Ottin's Laure de Noves (1850), Petrarch
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca , known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism"...
's Laura, is one of a series of Queens of France and historical ladies that had been commissioned for the Jardin du Luxembourg
Jardin du Luxembourg
The Jardin du Luxembourg, or the Luxembourg Gardens, is the second largest public park in Paris The Jardin du Luxembourg, or the Luxembourg Gardens, is the second largest public park in Paris The Jardin du Luxembourg, or the Luxembourg Gardens, is the second largest public park in Paris (224,500 m²...
under Louis-Philippe
Louis-Philippe of France
Louis Philippe I was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 in what was known as the July Monarchy. His father was a duke who supported the French Revolution but was nevertheless guillotined. Louis Philippe fled France as a young man and spent 21 years in exile, including considerable time in the...
.
About the same time he was commissioned to provide the sculptural elements for a room in an old palazzo in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, via de’ Renai, that was designed as an homage to the social utopian Charles Fourier
Charles Fourier
François Marie Charles Fourier was a French philosopher. An influential thinker, some of Fourier's social and moral views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have become main currents in modern society...
by an admirer of his philosophy, François Sabatier, who had recently wed the palazzo's owner, the Austrian singer, Caroline Unger
Caroline Unger
Caroline Unger was an Austro-Hungarian contralto.Born in Vienna, she studied in Italy; among her teachers were Aloysia Weber Lange and Domenico Ronconi. Her stage debut, in her native city, came in 1821, when she performed in Mozart's Così fan tutte, a performance for which Franz Schubert had...
.
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
. In 1866 he was commissioned to provide a sculptural centrepiece for the Medici Fountain
Medici Fountain
The Medici Fountain is a monumental fountain in the Jardin du Luxembourg in the 6th arrondissement in Paris. It was built in about 1630 by Marie de' Medici, the widow of King Henry IV of France and regent of King Louis XIII of France...
in the Jardin du Luxembourg
Jardin du Luxembourg
The Jardin du Luxembourg, or the Luxembourg Gardens, is the second largest public park in Paris The Jardin du Luxembourg, or the Luxembourg Gardens, is the second largest public park in Paris The Jardin du Luxembourg, or the Luxembourg Gardens, is the second largest public park in Paris (224,500 m²...
, one of the few survivals of Salomon de Brosse
Salomon de Brosse
Salomon de Brosse was the most influential early 17th-century French architect, a major influence on François Mansart. Salomon was from a prominent Huguenot family, the grandson through his mother of the designer Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau and the son of the architect Jean de Brosse...
's gardens for Marie de Medici; the nymphaeum
Nymphaeum
A nymphaeum or nymphaion , in ancient Greece and Rome, was a monument consecrated to the nymphs, especially those of springs....
of rockwork in an architectural frame was being moved from its former location to make way for widening of a carriageway, part of Baron Haussmann
Baron Haussmann
Georges-Eugène Haussmann, commonly known as Baron Haussmann , was a French civic planner whose name is associated with the rebuilding of Paris...
's improvements. The result was his best-known work, Polyphemus Surprising Acis and Galatea, where the bronze giant crouches above the rocky grotto
Grotto
A grotto is any type of natural or artificial cave that is associated with modern, historic or prehistoric use by humans. When it is not an artificial garden feature, a grotto is often a small cave near water and often flooded or liable to flood at high tide...
in which Galatea lies in the arms of Acis, who leans on his elbow in the manner of a river god
River God
River God is a novel by author Wilbur Smith. It tells the story of the talented eunuch slave Taita, his life in Egypt, the flight of Taita along with the Egyptian populace from the Hyksos invasion, and their eventual return. The novel can be grouped together with Wilbur Smith's other books on...
—which he is just about to become: see Acis
ACIS
The 3D ACIS Modeler is a 3D modelling kernel owned by Spatial Corporation . ACIS is used by many software developers in industries such as computer-aided design , Computer-aided manufacturing , Computer-aided engineering , Architecture, engineering and construction , Coordinate-measuring machine...
. His Pan and Diana in marble accompany the group.
In the new Square Emile-Chautemps at Le Sentier, Paris IIIème, among the sculptural figures enhancing two oval pools under the general artistic direction of Gabriel Davioud
Gabriel Davioud
Jean-Antoine-Gabriel Davioud was a French architect.Davioud was born in Paris and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts under Léon Vaudoyer...
, Ottin was entrusted with seated bronze figures of Mercury and Music.
In the extensive sculptural programme of the Palais Garnier
Palais Garnier
The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
for the Opera, Ottin was entrusted with La Musique and La Danse seated figures leaning on a central medallion in the arched pediment on the west-facing facade. He also provided standing females representing northern French cities for the less-demanding programme of the Gare du Nord
Gare du Nord
Paris Nord is one of the six large terminus railway stations of the SNCF mainline network for Paris, France. It offers connections with several urban transportation lines, including Paris Métro and RER...
Among similar commissions is his statue of Euthymenes
Euthymenes
Euthymenes was a Greek explorer from Massilia , who explored the coast of West Africa as far, apparently, as a great river, of which the outflow made the sea at its mouth fresh or brackish...
for the Bourse, Marseille.