Artist name Moreau, Mathurin
Sex: m
Artist occupation: sculptor
Geographical data: France
State: France
Date of birth: 1822.11.18
Place of birth: Dijon
Date of death: 1912.02.14
Place of death: Paris
Place(s) cited: Paris
Book sources: Thieme-Becker XXV, 1931, 129

French sculptor and entrepreneur. His father, Jean-Baptiste Moreau (1797--1855), a sculptor in Dijon, was best known for his restoration of the medieval tombs of the Dukes of Burgundy, which had been damaged during the French Revolution. In 1841 Mathurin entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, where he trained under Etienne-Jules Ramey and Augustin-Alexandre Dumont. He made his Salon debut in 1848 with Elegy (plaster, Dijon, Musee des Beaux-Arts). In 1852 his Flower Fairy, exhibited at the Salon in plaster, was commissioned by the State in bronze (Dijon, Musee des Beaux-Arts). At the 1861 Salon, his marble Spinner was also bought by the State, for the Musee du Luxembourg, Paris (version, Dijon. Mus. Beaux-Arts). Poetic and uncontentious works of this kind continued to earn Moreau medals and prizes at subsequent Salons and international exhibitions. Among his public works, he contributed decorative sculpture to the new Opera and to the rebuilt Hotel de Ville in Paris, and also produced some commemorative statues, such as that in Dijon to Sadi Carnot, President of the French Republic (marble and bronze, 1899; Dijon, Place de la Republique), which he executed in collaboration with Paul Gasq (b 1860; fl 1881--1909). However, it was probably the extent of his entrepreneurial activities that won for Moreau an influential position in public life. Having provided many sculpture models for commercial exploitation by the Val d'Osne foundry, he became one of the administrators of the Societe du Val d'Osne. Together with his pupil and namesake, Auguste Moreau (1834--1917), he continued, well into the 20th century, to supply models for the manufacture of decorative bronze statuettes that were wholly untouched by more avant-garde endeavours. From 1878 Moreau was mayor of the 19th arrondissement in Paris. The Civil Marriage, a painting by Henri Gervex that hangs in the Salle des Mariages of the Mairie of that arrondissement, shows Moreau officiating at his son's civil marriage ceremony, before a distinguished audience.



BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lami , J.-C. Ancet: Une famille de sculpteurs bourguignons: Les Moreau (diss., U. Dijon, 1974)
Kjellberg, P. Bronzes of the 19th Century, A Dictionary of Sculptors, 1992
MacKay, J. A dictionary of Western Sculptors in Bronze, 1976
Berman, H. Bronzes- Sculptors and Founders, 1987
Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication; La Sculpture Française au XIXe Siecle, 1986.
Forrest, M., Art Bronzes, 1988