Hailed by the press as the “sculptor of the Third Republic” following his death [1] , Aimé-Jules Dalou is remembered above all for the major public monuments he created for the City of Paris. Born into a working-class family with strong republican convictions, he trained first at the Petite École and subsequently at the École des Beaux-Arts, where his precocious talent attracted the attention of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. Following an early career devoted principally to decorative sculpture, his support for the Paris Commune forced him into exile in England from 1871 to 1879. Returning to Paris in 1880 following the amnesty granted to the Communards, he took part in the major monumental programmes of the Third Republic, notably creating La Chanson for the new Hôtel de Ville, Mirabeau répondant à Dreux-Brézé for the Palais-Bourbon, the Monument à Eugène Delacroix, La Fraternité des Peuples and Le Triomphe de la République, intended for the Place de la Nation.
The present work originated in 1886, when Dalou was commissioned to create a monumental statue of Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (1743–1794) for one of the niches of the Grand Amphithéâtre of the new Sorbonne. While the other figures in the decorative programme – Robert de Sorbon, Descartes, Rollin, Pascal and Richelieu – executed by various sculptors, were all portrayed seated in dignified and ceremonial poses, Dalou adopted a strikingly original approach. With his back bent forward, his legs crossed and his chin resting upon his left hand, Lavoisier is depicted completely absorbed in contemplation. Widely regarded as the founder of modern chemistry and author of the Traité élémentaire de chimie published in 1789, Lavoisier, immortalised during his lifetime by Jacques-Louis David, embodies the scientific revolution of the Enlightenment and the emergence of knowledge grounded in observation and reason. Dalou chose to portray him at the very heart of his intellectual activity. This profoundly human vision reflects the sculptor’s own belief in an art dedicated to progress and the public good. Guillotined in 1794 during the French Revolution, Lavoisier, like Dalou during his years of exile, suffered the consequences of the political upheavals of his time.
This portrayal of Lavoisier, described in several contemporary documents and contracts as Le Penseur [2] (The Thinker), finds an illuminating parallel in Auguste Rodin’s celebrated Thinker, conceived during the early 1880s. Both Dalou and Rodin contributed to the renewal of late nineteenth-century French sculpture by replacing the traditional image of the triumphant hero with a more introspective and profoundly human conception of the individual.
For this public commission, Dalou produced an initial plaster sketch in 1886, now held at the Petit Palais, before presenting a second version at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1890 [3]. In the first composition, Lavoisier is seated on a refined Louis XVI-style stool and accompanied by a disorderly stack of books scattered across the floor, symbolising a genius absorbed in intellectual endeavour. In the second model, the figure assumes a more monumental presence: the stool is replaced by a substantial bench, while the drapery of the garments becomes fuller. The accompanying attributes also evolve, giving way to a closed book and a retort, an instrument alluding to the chemist’s experimental work, in a composition that closely foreshadows the final sculpture created for the Sorbonne.
Towards the end of his life, although Dalou consistently placed his artistic ideals above personal financial gain, he became increasingly concerned with securing the future of his only daughter, Georgette, whose fragile health required long-term care at the Orphelinat des Arts. It was with this objective in mind that, in 1899, he concluded a contract with the Susse Frères foundry for the bronze edition of three of his works, including Lavoisier, “in whatever sizes might be required for sale” [4] . The bronze edition of Lavoisier therefore began during the artist’s lifetime, and one cast was exhibited at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1901 under no. 32. Following Dalou’s death in 1902, his executors continued to promote and disseminate his oeuvre through successive agreements with the Susse, Hébrard and Houdebine foundries for the casting of his sculptures. The Lavoisier model subsequently circulated widely in bronze, notably through the no. 1, no. 2 and no. 3 editions listed in the Susse sales catalogues of 1907 and 1910.
Among the models intended for bronze casting was also a Sketch of Lavoisier, mentioned in the Susse–Dalou contract of 26 January 1918. This designation appears to refer to a more restrained and intimate version of the composition, closely recalling the spirit of the 1886 plaster now held in the Petit Palais. Our cast shares a particularly significant connection with this plaster: both bear the number “814”, engraved in the same position on the plinth. The Musée d’Orsay also preserves several bronze variants that document the evolution of the composition. Among these, the master model, RF 4342, is so closely related to the present cast that it may well have served as the reference model from which it was produced.
With its rich brownish-green patina enlivened by reddish highlights, the present cast fully reveals the introspective quality of the model and exemplifies Dalou’s innovative ability to make the silent intensity of thought visible through sculpture. The scientific innovation embodied by Lavoisier thus finds a compelling parallel in Dalou’s sculptural audacity, uniting in a single work the advancement of knowledge with the progress of artistic creation. Originally conceived as part of an ambitious monumental programme, Lavoisier found a new destiny through its reduced bronze editions, which brought the work to collectors and connoisseurs alike. These casts continue to offer an intimate encounter with the sculpture, allowing the subtlety of Dalou’s modelling and the psychological depth he infused into the figure to be fully appreciated.
D. G.
