Félix Charpentier

He was to show artistic talent when very young and at the age of 7 he was modelling small figures from wood and from the clay which he found at the brickworks where his father was working.

In 1877, he entered the École nationale des beaux-arts de Paris and worked in the studio of Pierre-Jules Cavelier and Amédée Doublemard.

From 1878 onwards, Felix' reputation grew and in 1867 he won the silver medal at the Exposition Universelle and received several commissions.

The marble version of "Les Lutteurs" was to subsequently bring him the Salon's highest award, the "Medal of Honour".

On 5 May 1892, the day of the unveiling of the monument celebrating Avignon's absorption into France, he was decorated with the title of Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur.

On 8 October 2020 it was removed from display and sent to the Réunion des Musées Nationaux workshops near Paris, where it was subjected to thorough cleaning and refurbishment and repatinated.

Charpentier is thought to have executed this work in 1887 and a version in plaster was exhibited at the Salon in Paris in 1887 and won the "Medaille de Seconde Classe".

For this reason Charpentier was the preferred sculptor for the war memorials of Bollène, Roquemaure, Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes and Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, all in the region of his birth, whilst his adopted region commissioned him to carry out the sculptural work on the war memorials of Béville-le-Comte, Bonneval, Brou, Chassant, Combres, Dangeau, Frétigny, Fruncé and Unverre.