Antoine-Félix Bouré
Encyclopedia
Antoine-Félix Bouré known in his own time as Félix Bouré but sometimes found in modern scholarship as Antoine Bouré, was a Belgian sculptor, best known for his monumental
lions.
as the Belgian war of independence
was drawing to a close. He studied locally first under Guillaume Geefs
and then from 1846 to 1852 under Eugène Simonis
at the Royal Academy for Fine Art
, going abroad to complete his training at the Academy of Fine Arts at Florence
. In his studies he followed the same course as his older brother, Paul Bouré
. Paul died in his mid-twenties when Antoine-Félix was only 17.
Bouré was among the artists whose work was exhibited at the Musée Bovie, a grand maison built by the painter Virginie Bovie
on the Rue de Trône, Brussels. In 1868, he was one of sixteen co-founders of the Société Libre des Beaux-Arts
, an avant-garde
society that provided exhibition space alternative to that of the official Salon in Belgium. The manifesto
of the society espoused the Realist
principle of "free and individual interpretation of nature" along with avant-gardist
ideals of "struggle, change, freedom, progress, originality and tolerance" that were inspired by Courbet
and Baudelaire. "Modernity" and "sincerity" were keywords. By 1875 the Salon had come to accept and then coopt the Realist program, at which time the society disbanded.
Bouré was a friend of Auguste Rodin
, who worked on a number of projects in Brussels thoroughout the 1870s. In 1877, Bouré was one of two Belgian sculptors who offered testimony on behalf of the 36-year-old Rodin during a controversy over The Vanquished, a life-sized male nude modeled after a Belgian soldier that was later retitled The Age of Bronze
. Rodin had been accused of assembling the work from plaster cast
s rather than modeling it from life; Bouré confirmed Rodin's work methods from his own observations in the studio.
Bouré's sculptures were considered remarkable for their combination of grace and power. The critic Camille Lemonnier
, a fellow member of the Sociéte Libre, praised him for "sincerity," one of the ideals prized by their group. Bouré showed work at the Exposition Universelle de Paris in the years 1867 and 1878, and at numerous salons in Belgium and abroad. He earned medals at exhibitions in Brussels, Paris, and Philadelphia.
Bouré was awarded the Order of Leopold, either as a chevalier (knight) or officier. He died at Ixelles in 1883 in what was marked as the prime of his life, and was buried next to his brother. In L'Art moderne, he was eulogized jointly with the octagenarian Geefs to the detriment of his former teacher, whom the anonymous writer accused of "inundating the country with pathetic vulgarities": Bouré, the writer said, "produced little, but all of it fine." La rue Félix Bouré (or just la rue Bouré) in Ixelles is named for him.
"like a cat on a garden wall." The Gileppe lion stands 13.5 meters tall (around 44 feet). Weighing 130 tonne
s, it was constructed from 183 blocks of sandstone brought to the site by horse-drawn carts.
Bouré also sculpted the colossal lion in bronzed zinc
at the Leopold Gate in Brussels; the pair at the entrance to the Palais du Justice in Charleroi
, known as Totor et Tutur; and other lions throughout Brussels, including those in the garden of the Palais des Académies
and four along the Rue Royale
. Some of his lions were produced in tabletop versions.
Bouré's interest in leonine subject matter places him in company with les animaliers
, the 19th-century French sculptors led by Antoine-Louis Barye
who made animals the focus of their work rather than relegating them to the background. Along with the sculptor Léon Mignon
(1847–1898) and Jacques de Lalaing
(1858–1917), Bouré helped establish a distinctively Belgian tradition of animal art, to which the flourishing Antwerp Zoo
contributed inspiration.
, and the "rare suppleness of its lines." Le lézard was not uniformly admired. One critic noted its "poverty of imagination" and thinness of execution, while admitting other qualities.
Bouré's child recalls in some aspects the Apollo Sauroctonos
("Apollo the Lizard-Slayer"), an often-reproduced figure in classical antiquity
of the pubescent god observing a lizard as it climbs up a tree. The original bronze was attributed to the Athenian sculptor Praxiteles
. The Louvre
acquired a white marble version in 1807. The sculpture received attention in French-language books on art published while Bouré was active, including Émile Gebhart
's Praxitèle (1864) and Wilhelm Fröhner
's Notice de la sculpture antique du Musée Impérial du Louvre (1878). If an image of the Sauroctonos is rotated and flipped horizontally, the compositional resemblances with Bouré's L'enfant au lézard become more evident. The Apollo's overall height of nearly 5 feet, which includes the tree trunk extending past the body, gives the figure a vertical proportion comparable to that of Bouré's 4-foot horizontal boy.
The Louvre acquired its Apollo Sauroctonos as part of the Borghese Collection
, which included other pieces that may have influenced Bouré such as a boyish standing Eros, the so-called ephebe
Narcissus
, and a sleeping Hermaphroditus
.
Related marbles from the Borghese Collection
In classical iconography, a lizard may also appear with Eros, and the Louvre Eros is thought to have originally held a small creature in its hand. Lemonnier pointed to classical qualities in Bouré's work, particularly in relation to ancient Roman sculpture
.
Although the subject matter seems out of keeping with Bouré's monumental and public works, his friend Rodin was also sculpting children during his time in Belgium in the 1870s, when Bouré was a visitor to his studio. Several years later, Rodin produced the bronze Les enfants au lézard (Children with a Lizard), depicting a little girl who retreats to her older sister's arms in fear of the small lizard below. Despite a similarity of subject matter, the work bears little resemblance to Bouré's sinuous reclining figure. Rodin's approach to representing children as "well-fed babies" has been related to his practice in drawing cupid
s (erotes
) for various two-dimensional media.
in Antwerp, Bouré's statue of the Belgo-gallic leader Ambiorix
was paired with that of the Nervian
general Boduognatus by Pierre Armand Cattier. Their works were brought together again at the Palais de Justice
in Brussels, where a pair of Bouré's griffin
s also preside over the portal
. For the interior of the Palais, each artist provided a pair of larger-than-life figures, Cattier the Greek orators Demosthenes
and Lycurgus
, and Bouré the Roman jurists Cicero
and Ulpian
. These were among Bouré's last completed works.
s for the Royal Conservatory of Brussels
. The Génie des Arts ("Genius of the Arts") appears in the center of the five-figure group, with Drama depicted as male to his left and a female Comedy to his right. These are flanked by Dance and Music, or the Muses Terpsichore
and Euterpe
. Bouré's Freedom of Association (1864) was created for the Chambre des Représentants.
Bouré's portrait busts of notable Belgians include Joseph Poelaert
, the architect of the Palais de Justice
; the surgeon and iodotherapist Limange; and Jean van Ruysbroeck, the architect
of the Hôtel de ville de Bruxelles
. Bouré created a self-portrait
for his own tomb, and at the time of his death was working on a bronze bust of the 16th-century architect Cornelis Floris de Vriendt
which was completed by Joseph van Rasbourgh. Lemonnier compared the bust of Limange, with a face "seamed by wrinkles and worked with Socratic
embossing," to the portraiture of antiquity
.
Monumental sculpture
The term monumental sculpture is often used in art history and criticism, but not always consistently. It combines two concepts, one of function, and one of size, and may include an element of a third more subjective concept. It is often used for all sculptures that are large...
lions.
Life and career
Bouré was born in BrusselsBrussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
as the Belgian war of independence
Belgian Revolution
The Belgian Revolution was the conflict which led to the secession of the Southern provinces from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and established an independent Kingdom of Belgium....
was drawing to a close. He studied locally first under Guillaume Geefs
Guillaume Geefs
Guillaume Geefs , also Willem Geefs, was a Belgian sculptor. Although known primarily for his monumental works and public portraits of statesmen and nationalist figures, he also explored mythological subject matter, often with an erotic theme.-Life:Geefs was born at Antwerp, the eldest of six...
and then from 1846 to 1852 under Eugène Simonis
Eugène Simonis
Louis-Eugène Simonis was a Belgian sculptor.-Career:Simonis studied under François-Joseph Dewandre at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Liège and at the age of nineteen went to Italy, where he continued his studies in Bologna and Rome. When he returned to Belgium he accepted an instructor...
at the Royal Academy for Fine Art
Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts
The Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels is an art school, founded in 1711.The faculty and alumni of ARBA include some of the most famous names in Belgian painting, sculpture, and architecture: James Ensor, Rene Magritte, and Paul Delvaux...
, going abroad to complete his training at the Academy of Fine Arts at Florence
Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze
The Accademia di Belle Arti is an art academy in Florence, Italy and it is now the operative branch of the still existing Accademia delle Arti del Disegno that was the first academy of drawing in Europe.-History:The Accademia delle Arti del Disegno The Accademia di Belle Arti ("Academy of Fine...
. In his studies he followed the same course as his older brother, Paul Bouré
Paul Bouré
Paul Bouré or Paul-Joseph Bouré was a Belgian artist. Poised to become one of the most notable sculptors of his time, he died at the age of 25.-Education and career:...
. Paul died in his mid-twenties when Antoine-Félix was only 17.
Bouré was among the artists whose work was exhibited at the Musée Bovie, a grand maison built by the painter Virginie Bovie
Virginie Bovie
Virginie Bovie , full name Joséphine-Louise-Virginie Bovie, was a Belgian painter and arts patron. In 1870, she was described as "well known", but she has fallen into neglect in the 20th and early 21st centuries and only seven of her more than 200 works have been located.-Life and career:Bovie was...
on the Rue de Trône, Brussels. In 1868, he was one of sixteen co-founders of the Société Libre des Beaux-Arts
Société Libre des Beaux-Arts
The Société Libre des Beaux-Arts was an organization formed in 1868 by Belgian artists to react against academicism and to advance Realist painting and artistic freedom. Based in Brussels, the society was active until 1876, by which time the aesthetic values it espoused had infiltrated the...
, an avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
society that provided exhibition space alternative to that of the official Salon in Belgium. The manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
of the society espoused the Realist
Realism (visual arts)
Realism in the visual arts is a style that depicts the actuality of what the eyes can see. The term is used in different senses in art history; it may mean the same as illusionism, the representation of subjects with visual mimesis or verisimilitude, or may mean an emphasis on the actuality of...
principle of "free and individual interpretation of nature" along with avant-gardist
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
ideals of "struggle, change, freedom, progress, originality and tolerance" that were inspired by Courbet
Courbet
Courbet may refer toPeople* Amédée Courbet , a French admiral* Félicien Courbet , a Belgian water polo player and breaststroke swimmer who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics* Gustave Courbet , a French painterships...
and Baudelaire. "Modernity" and "sincerity" were keywords. By 1875 the Salon had come to accept and then coopt the Realist program, at which time the society disbanded.
Bouré was a friend of Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
, who worked on a number of projects in Brussels thoroughout the 1870s. In 1877, Bouré was one of two Belgian sculptors who offered testimony on behalf of the 36-year-old Rodin during a controversy over The Vanquished, a life-sized male nude modeled after a Belgian soldier that was later retitled The Age of Bronze
The Age of Bronze
The Age of Bronze is a bronze statue by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. The figure is of a life-size nude male. When first exhibited at the 1877 Salon in Paris, Rodin was falsely accused of having made the statue by casting a living model, a charge that was vigorously denied. This charge...
. Rodin had been accused of assembling the work from plaster cast
Plaster cast
A plaster cast is a copy made in plaster of another 3-dimensional form. The original from which the cast is taken may be a sculpture, building, a face, a fossil or other remains such as fresh or fossilised footprints – particularly in palaeontology .Sometimes a...
s rather than modeling it from life; Bouré confirmed Rodin's work methods from his own observations in the studio.
Bouré's sculptures were considered remarkable for their combination of grace and power. The critic Camille Lemonnier
Camille Lemonnier
Antoine Louis Camille Lemonnier was a Belgian writer, poet and journalist. He was a member of the Symbolist La Jeune Belgique group, but his best known works are realist. His first work was Salon de Bruxelles , a collection of art criticism...
, a fellow member of the Sociéte Libre, praised him for "sincerity," one of the ideals prized by their group. Bouré showed work at the Exposition Universelle de Paris in the years 1867 and 1878, and at numerous salons in Belgium and abroad. He earned medals at exhibitions in Brussels, Paris, and Philadelphia.
Bouré was awarded the Order of Leopold, either as a chevalier (knight) or officier. He died at Ixelles in 1883 in what was marked as the prime of his life, and was buried next to his brother. In L'Art moderne, he was eulogized jointly with the octagenarian Geefs to the detriment of his former teacher, whom the anonymous writer accused of "inundating the country with pathetic vulgarities": Bouré, the writer said, "produced little, but all of it fine." La rue Félix Bouré (or just la rue Bouré) in Ixelles is named for him.
Animalier
Bouré's reputation rests primarily on his large sculptural lions, characterized by their athletic musculature and majestic air. The most famous of these is the colossal lion that sits atop the Gileppe DamGileppe Dam
The Gileppe Dam is an arch-gravity dam on the Gileppe river in Jalhay, Liège province, Wallonia, Belgium. It was built in the 1870s to supply water for the wool industry in nearby Verviers...
"like a cat on a garden wall." The Gileppe lion stands 13.5 meters tall (around 44 feet). Weighing 130 tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s, it was constructed from 183 blocks of sandstone brought to the site by horse-drawn carts.
Bouré also sculpted the colossal lion in bronzed zinc
Bronze sculpture
Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a "bronze".Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mold. Then, as the bronze cools, it...
at the Leopold Gate in Brussels; the pair at the entrance to the Palais du Justice in Charleroi
Charleroi
Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. , the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of and had a total population of 522,522 as of 1 January 2008, ranking it as...
, known as Totor et Tutur; and other lions throughout Brussels, including those in the garden of the Palais des Académies
Palace of Academies
The rather austere neoclassical Academy Palace , in Brussels, establishes the harmonious ensemble of the capital's Place Royale/Koningsplein and the Brussels Park....
and four along the Rue Royale
Rue Royale, Brussels
Rue Royale or Koningsstraat is a street in Brussels, Belgium on both municipalities of Schaerbeek and City of Brussels. It is limited to the south by the Place Royale in the city center and to the north by Place de la Reine/Koninginplein in Schaerbeek...
. Some of his lions were produced in tabletop versions.
Bouré's interest in leonine subject matter places him in company with les animaliers
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...
, the 19th-century French sculptors led by 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...
who made animals the focus of their work rather than relegating them to the background. Along with the sculptor Léon Mignon
Léon Mignon
Léon Mignon was a Belgian sculptor working in a realist idiom, known for his depiction of bulls.Born at Liège, Léon Mignon completed his studies at the Académie royale des Beaux-Arts de Liège in 1871...
(1847–1898) and Jacques de Lalaing
Jacques de Lalaing (artist)
Jacques de Lalaing was an Anglo-Belgian painter and sculptor, specializing in animals.- Life :Born in London as the son of a Belgian diplomat and an English aristocrat, Lalaing was raised in England until 1875, when he moved to Brussels...
(1858–1917), Bouré helped establish a distinctively Belgian tradition of animal art, to which the flourishing Antwerp Zoo
Antwerp Zoo
Antwerp Zoo is a zoo in the centre of Antwerp, Belgium, located right next to the Antwerpen-Centraal railway station. It is the oldest animal park in the country, and one of the oldest in the world, established on 21 July 1843.- History :...
contributed inspiration.
The Lizard
The other work for which Bouré is most noted shows a strikingly different side of the artist. The white marble Le lézard or L'enfant au lezard, not quite 4 feet long and about 2 feet high (overall 61.5 by 118.5 by 39 cm), depicts a nude boy lying on his stomach, ankles crossed, resting on his left elbow with his right hand cocked inquisitively as he directs his absorbed gaze down at a small lizard. Bouré created this délicieux morceau during the period 1872–1874. It was praised for its fine modeling and lifelike expression, its charm and grace of attitudeAttitude (art)
Attitude as a term of fine art refers to the posture or gesture given to a figure by a painter or sculptor. It applies to the body and not to a mental state, but the arrangement of the body is presumed to serve a communicative or expressive purpose...
, and the "rare suppleness of its lines." Le lézard was not uniformly admired. One critic noted its "poverty of imagination" and thinness of execution, while admitting other qualities.
Bouré's child recalls in some aspects the Apollo Sauroctonos
Apollo Sauroctonos
The Apollo Sauroktonos is a 1.49m high ancient sculpture in the Louvre, as Inventaire MR 78 . It is a 1st - 2nd century AD Roman marble copy of an original by Praxiteles. It shows a nude adolescent male about to catch a lizard climbing up a tree...
("Apollo the Lizard-Slayer"), an often-reproduced figure in classical antiquity
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
of the pubescent god observing a lizard as it climbs up a tree. The original bronze was attributed to the Athenian sculptor Praxiteles
Praxiteles
Praxiteles of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus the Elder, was the most renowned of the Attic sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue...
. The Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
acquired a white marble version in 1807. The sculpture received attention in French-language books on art published while Bouré was active, including Émile Gebhart
Émile Gebhart
Émile Gebhart was a French academic and writer, He was elected to the Académie française in 1905.He was attacked by Radicals for his religious and patriotic ideals....
's Praxitèle (1864) and Wilhelm Fröhner
Wilhelm Fröhner
Wilhelm Fröhner or Guillaume Frœhner was a curator at the Musée du Louvre, an archaeological researcher and collector of antiquities in Paris...
's Notice de la sculpture antique du Musée Impérial du Louvre (1878). If an image of the Sauroctonos is rotated and flipped horizontally, the compositional resemblances with Bouré's L'enfant au lézard become more evident. The Apollo's overall height of nearly 5 feet, which includes the tree trunk extending past the body, gives the figure a vertical proportion comparable to that of Bouré's 4-foot horizontal boy.
The Louvre acquired its Apollo Sauroctonos as part of the Borghese Collection
Borghese collection
The Borghese Collection is a collection of Roman sculptures, old masters and modern art collected by the Roman Borghese family, especially Cardinal Scipione Borghese, from the 17th century on. It includes major collections of Caravaggio, Raphael, and Titian, and of ancient Roman art...
, which included other pieces that may have influenced Bouré such as a boyish standing Eros, the so-called ephebe
Ephebe
Greek ephebos ἔφηβος , anglicised as ephebe , or Latinate ephebus is the term for an adolescent male.Ephebe may refer to:...
Narcissus
Narcissus (mythology)
Narcissus or Narkissos , possibly derived from ναρκη meaning "sleep, numbness," in Greek mythology was a hunter from the territory of Thespiae in Boeotia who was renowned for his beauty. He was exceptionally proud, in that he disdained those who loved him...
, and a sleeping Hermaphroditus
Hermaphroditus
In Greek mythology, Hermaphroditus or Hermaphroditos was the child of Aphrodite and Hermes. He was a minor deity of bisexuality and effeminacy. According to Ovid, born a remarkably handsome boy, he was transformed into an androgynous being by union with the water nymph Salmacis...
.
Related marbles from the Borghese Collection
In classical iconography, a lizard may also appear with Eros, and the Louvre Eros is thought to have originally held a small creature in its hand. Lemonnier pointed to classical qualities in Bouré's work, particularly in relation to ancient Roman sculpture
Roman sculpture
The study of ancient Roman sculpture is complicated by its relation to Greek sculpture. Many examples of even the most famous Greek sculptures, such as the Apollo Belvedere and Barberini Faun, are known only from Roman Imperial or Hellenistic "copies." At one time, this imitation was taken by art...
.
Although the subject matter seems out of keeping with Bouré's monumental and public works, his friend Rodin was also sculpting children during his time in Belgium in the 1870s, when Bouré was a visitor to his studio. Several years later, Rodin produced the bronze Les enfants au lézard (Children with a Lizard), depicting a little girl who retreats to her older sister's arms in fear of the small lizard below. Despite a similarity of subject matter, the work bears little resemblance to Bouré's sinuous reclining figure. Rodin's approach to representing children as "well-fed babies" has been related to his practice in drawing cupid
Cupid
In Roman mythology, Cupid is the god of desire, affection and erotic love. He is the son of the goddess Venus and the god Mars. His Greek counterpart is Eros...
s (erotes
Erotes (mythology)
The erotes are a group of winged gods and demi-gods from Classical mythology, associated with love and sex, and part of Aphrodite's retinue. The collective term ἔρωτες - erotes is simply the plural of ἔρως - eros, or "desire"....
) for various two-dimensional media.
Historical figures
On the monumental gate of BerchemBerchem
The 'Ring', Antwerp's circular motorway which follows the track of the former city defense walls, cuts Berchem in two parts, separating the urban inner city area of Oud-Berchem from the more residential and suburban areas Groenenhoek en Nieuw Kwartier .-Demography:Berchem's total surface is over ,...
in Antwerp, Bouré's statue of the Belgo-gallic leader Ambiorix
Ambiorix
Ambiorix was, together with Catuvolcus, prince of the Eburones, leader of a Belgic tribe of north-eastern Gaul , where modern Belgium is located...
was paired with that of the Nervian
Nervii
The Nervii were an ancient Germanic tribe, and one of the most powerful Belgic tribes; living in the northeastern hinterlands of Gaul, they were known to trek long distances to engage in various wars and functions...
general Boduognatus by Pierre Armand Cattier. Their works were brought together again at the Palais de Justice
Law Courts of Brussels
The Law Courts of Brussels or Brussels Palace of Justice is the most important Court building in Belgium, and is a notable landmark of Brussels. It was built between 1866 and 1883 in the eclectic style by architect Joseph Poelaert...
in Brussels, where a pair of Bouré's griffin
Griffin
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle...
s also preside over the portal
Portal (architecture)
Portal is a general term describing an opening in the walls of a building, gate or fortification, and especially a grand entrance to an important structure. Doors, metal gates or portcullis in the opening can be used to control entry or exit. The surface surrounding the opening may be made of...
. For the interior of the Palais, each artist provided a pair of larger-than-life figures, Cattier the Greek orators Demosthenes
Demosthenes
Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by...
and Lycurgus
Lycurgus
Lycurgus or Lykurgus may refer to:People:* Historical:** Lycurgus of Sparta, creator of constitution of Sparta** Lycurgus of Athens, one of the ten notable orators at Athens,...
, and Bouré the Roman jurists Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
and Ulpian
Ulpian
Gnaeus Domitius Annius Ulpianus , anglicized as Ulpian, was a Roman jurist of Tyrian ancestry.-Biography:The exact time and place of his birth are unknown, but the period of his literary activity was between AD 211 and 222...
. These were among Bouré's last completed works.
Other works
Bouré created one of five sculpted pedimentPediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
s for the Royal Conservatory of Brussels
Royal Conservatory of Brussels
The Royal Conservatory of Brussels is a drama and music college in Brussels, Belgium. An academy for acting and the arts, it has been attended by many of the top actors and actresses in Belgium such as Josse De Pauw, Luk van Mello and Luk De Konink....
. The Génie des Arts ("Genius of the Arts") appears in the center of the five-figure group, with Drama depicted as male to his left and a female Comedy to his right. These are flanked by Dance and Music, or the Muses Terpsichore
Terpsichore
In Greek mythology, Terpsichore "delight of dancing" was one of the nine Muses, ruling over dance and the dramatic chorus. She lends her name to the word "terpsichorean" which means "of or relating to dance". She is usually depicted sitting down, holding a lyre, accompanying the dancers' choirs...
and Euterpe
Euterpe
In Greek mythology, Euterpe + τέρπειν terpein ) was one of the Muses, the daughters of Mnemosyne, fathered by Zeus. Called the "Giver of delight", when later poets assigned roles to each of the Muses, she was the muse of music. In late Classical times she was named muse of lyric poetry and...
. Bouré's Freedom of Association (1864) was created for the Chambre des Représentants.
Bouré's portrait busts of notable Belgians include Joseph Poelaert
Joseph Poelaert
Joseph Poelaert was a Belgian architect.- Life :Born in Brussels to Philip Poelaert , a former architecture student at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Poelaert also trained there under Tilman-François Suys, and then in Paris under Louis Visconti and Jean-Nicolas Huyot.Poelaert...
, the architect of the Palais de Justice
Law Courts of Brussels
The Law Courts of Brussels or Brussels Palace of Justice is the most important Court building in Belgium, and is a notable landmark of Brussels. It was built between 1866 and 1883 in the eclectic style by architect Joseph Poelaert...
; the surgeon and iodotherapist Limange; and Jean van Ruysbroeck, the architect
Jan van Ruysbroek (architect)
Jan van Ruysbroeck was a Flemish architect of the early 15th century . His best known work was the belfry of the Brussels Town Hall...
of the Hôtel de ville de Bruxelles
Brussels Town Hall
The Town Hall of the City of Brussels is a Gothic building from the Middle Ages. It is located on the famous Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium....
. Bouré created a self-portrait
Self-portrait
A self-portrait is a representation of an artist, drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by the artist. Although self-portraits have been made by artists since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid 15th century that artists can be frequently identified depicting...
for his own tomb, and at the time of his death was working on a bronze bust of the 16th-century architect Cornelis Floris de Vriendt
Cornelis Floris de Vriendt
Cornelis Floris de Vriendt was a Flemish Renaissance architect and sculptor. He played an important role in the building of the Antwerp City Hall. His brother was Frans Floris, for whom he designed a house in Antwerp.-External links:...
which was completed by Joseph van Rasbourgh. Lemonnier compared the bust of Limange, with a face "seamed by wrinkles and worked with Socratic
Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
embossing," to the portraiture of antiquity
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
.
Further reading
- Joseph Chot, the rare critical essay Les frères Paul et Félix Bouré (1912).
External links
- Example of a small bronze lion (1873) by Bouré at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
- Aerial view of the Gileppe Dam with Bouré's colossal lion
- Slide show of works by Bouré, with Cicero, the bust of Jean van Ruysbroeck, Ulpian, the griffins at the Palais de Justice, a caryatidCaryatidA caryatid is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term karyatides literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient town of Peloponnese...
, and the magnificent visage of one of the Totor et Tutur lions