Amédée Ménard

King Gradlon by Amédée-René Ménard, a plaster model (ca. 1850) for his later sculpture in granite of the same title.
King Gradlon by Amédée-René Ménard, 1858, granite statue at the cathedral of Saint-Corentin at Quimper, France.

Amédée-René Ménard (16 October 1806 — 22 October, 1873) was a French academic sculptor and art teacher.

Biography

Amédée Ménard was born in Nantes, France, the son of René François Ménard, a timber merchant.[1] He studied art with local sculptors and joined a workshop specializing in statuary.[1] In 1825 he moved to Paris for further studies with the sculptor Étienne-Jules Ramey.[1] He spent most of the following decade in Paris, where he showed regularly at the Salon, before returning to settle permanently in Nantes.[1]

Ménard sculpted large statues of historical and mythological characters as well as some bas reliefs and architectural elements such as pediments. Most of his work was intended for public display outdoors or in churches, and much of his surviving work can be found in such locations.[1] A few of his smaller pieces are in museums like the Angers Museum of Fine Arts.[1]

He taught art at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and later in Nantes. Among his students in Nantes were the sculptor Charles-Auguste Lebourg[2] and the painter Auguste Toulmouche.[3]

Ménard died at home in Nantes[4] and was buried in a nearby cemetery.[5]

Selected sculptures

  • Statue of Saint Anne (1851, at the top of a staircase leading down to the Marquis d'Aiguillon wharf, Nantes)
  • Mercury Inventing the Caduceus (1852)
  • King Gradlon (1858, at Quimper Cathedral)
  • Alain Barbetorte (1861)
  • The Law and the Force (on the façade of the old courthouse, Nantes)
  • Tomb figure of Bishop Joseph Marie Graveran, Quimper Cathedral
  • Christ Blessing the Crowd (at Saint Emilien Church, Nantes)
  • The Virgin (at Saint Anne church, Nantes)
  • Bas relief on the tomb of Abbé Fresneau (at Notre Dame de Bon Port Church, Nantes)
  • Bust of Joseph Chenentais, a fire marshal of Nantes
  • Bust of General de Lamoricière

Legacy

A street in Nantes is named after him.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Amédée Ménard sculpte la Bretagne". Le Télégramme, November 13, 2005. (In French).
  2. ↑ "Fine-Art Gossip". The Athenaeum, no. 4089, March 10, 1906, p. 307.
  3. ↑ "Biographie". Auguste Toulmouche (1829-1890). (In French).
  4. ↑ Le Nail, Bernard.Dictionnaire biographique de Nantes et de Loire-Atlantique, Le Temps Éditeur, 2010. (In French).
  5. ↑ Lhommeau, Éric, and Karen Roberts. Guide du cimetière Miséricorde de Nantes. Nantes: Le Veilleur de nuit, 2009, p. 16. (In French).


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