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Auguste Clésinger
Jean-Baptiste Auguste Clésinger, known as Auguste Clésinger, was a French Romantic sculptor and painter. He was born on October 22, 1814, in Besançon, and died on January 6, 1883, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. He is particularly known for his connections to George Sand, whose son-in-law he became, and Frédéric Chopin, for whom he sculpted the tomb.
He served as artistic director of the Société Générale de Photosculpture de France.
Clésinger was the son of Georges-Philippe Clésinger, himself a sculptor and a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Besançon, where Auguste began his training. He was also a student of Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844).
Clésinger made his debut at the Paris Salon of 1843 with a Bust of Viscount Jules de Valdahon. His final exhibition took place in 1864.
He created many busts, including those of the actress Rachel Félix, the writer Théophile Gautier, and the statue of Louise of Savoy in the Reines de France et Femmes Illustres series at the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris.
In 1847, he caused a scandal at the Salon by exhibiting his Woman Bitten by a Snake, a Romantic sculpture modeled after Apollonie Sabatier, muse of Charles Baudelaire and mistress of wealthy Belgian industrialist Alfred Mosselman, who commissioned the piece.
Théophile Gautier wrote:
“Clésinger has solved the problem of creating beauty without prettiness, without affectation or mannerism, with a head and body of our own time, in which anyone can recognize his mistress if she is beautiful.”
— Théophile Gautier, Salon of 1847
Clésinger spent time in Barbizon, where he was influenced by Théodore Rousseau and Charles Le Roux.
On March 16, 1846, Clésinger—who may have previously noticed Solange Dudevant at a Parisian ball—asked George Sand, Solange's mother, for permission to name one of his sculptures Consuelo, after one of her novels. She agreed and invited him to her home at 5 Square d’Orléans in Paris. Solange was engaged at the time but broke off the engagement to marry the sculptor. This event had a significant impact on George Sand’s personal life, especially her relationship with Chopin, who opposed the marriage. Clésinger gifted Sand bronze copies of his Dancing Faun and Melancholy, which were placed at her home in Nohant.
Clésinger and Solange Dudevant (1828–1899) married on May 19, 1847, in Nohant. However, their relationship quickly soured. On July 11, 1847, a quarrel between Clésinger and Maurice Dudevant (Solange’s brother) led to a falling out between George Sand and the couple. Facing financial difficulties, the couple unsuccessfully asked Sand to mortgage her family estate. A reconciliation later occurred between Clésinger and Chopin. After Chopin’s death in October 1849, Clésinger sculpted his tomb monument at Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
The couple had two daughters: the first, Jeanne-Gabrielle, born on February 28, 1848, died in infancy. A second daughter, also named Jeanne-Gabrielle, nicknamed "Nini," was born on May 10, 1849, at the Château de Guillery in Pompiey (Lot-et-Garonne). George Sand was deeply attached to her. Sadly, she died on January 13, 1855, of untreated scarlet fever, reportedly due to her father’s negligence, shortly after her parents separated.
In 1849, Clésinger was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Legion of Honor and was promoted to Officer in 1864.
Later, Clésinger was inspired by the voluptuous and statuesque Berthe de Courrière, who modeled for his Marianne bust (kept in the French Senate) and the monumental statue La République, created for the 1878 Exposition Universelle.
Clésinger died on January 6, 1883, at his home at 6 rue de la Chaise, Paris (7th arrondissement). He was buried at Père-Lachaise Cemetery (10th division), where one of his works, Euterpe (1850), adorns Chopin’s tomb. Also buried in the same grave are Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915), a writer, and Berthe de Courrière (1852–1916), their shared mistress and Clésinger’s universal heir.
A street in Besançon, in the Montrapon-Fontaine-Écu district, bears his name.
Selected Works
Sculpture
1845 – Bust of Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Nemours – marble, Museum of Fine Arts and Archaeology, Besançon
1847 – Louise of Savoy – stone, Luxembourg Garden, Paris
1847 – Bust of George Sand – marble, Museum of Romantic Life, Paris
1847 – George Sand’s arm – plaster, Museum of Romantic Life, Paris
1847 – Woman Bitten by a Snake – marble, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
1847 – Apollonie Sabatier – marble, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
1848 – Reclining Bacchante – marble, Petit Palais, Paris
1848 – Self-portrait – marble bust, Museum of Romantic Life, Paris
1849 – Left Hand of Frédéric Chopin – plaster, Museum of Romantic Life, Paris
1850 – Funerary Monument of Frédéric Chopin – Père-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
1854 – Sappho – plaster, Museum of Fine Arts, Châlons-en-Champagne
1857 – Roman Bullfight – patinated plaster, Museum of Fine Arts, Besançon
1857 – Infant Hercules Strangling the Serpents of Envy – bronze, Musée d'Orsay
1864 – Leda and the Swan – marble group, Musée de Picardie, Amiens
1865 – Woman with a Rose – bronze, Musée d'Orsay
1868 – Pietà or Virgin of Pity – stone, Chapel of the Souls in Purgatory, Saint-Sulpice Church, Paris
1869 – Andromeda – marble, Museum of Art and Archaeology, Périgueux
1869 – Nereids – marble group, Museum of Fine Arts and Archaeology, Besançon
1873 – Virgin and Child – Carrara marble, Church of Saint-Vincent, Bagnères-de-Bigorre
1876 – Herodias – patinated plaster bust, Museum of Fine Arts, Besançon
1876 – Salome – patinated plaster bust, Museum of Fine Arts, Besançon
1879 – Bust of Henry Houssaye – bronze, Père-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
1879 – Monument to Adolphe Thiers – stone statue, École nationale d'arts et métiers, Aix-en-Provence
1880 – Bust of Gustave Flaubert (lost) – marble replica by Jean Escoula inaugurated in 1921, Luxembourg Garden, Paris
Bust of Marcello (1836–1879) – at the Marcello Foundation, Fribourg, Switzerland
Paintings & Drawings
1849 – Portrait of Solange Dudevant-Clésinger – drawing, Museum of Romantic Life, Paris
1863 – Sunset with Three Figures and Stream with Cliffs – oil on wood (pendant landscapes), Baron-Martin Museum, Gray
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