Francisque Joseph Duret

Before becoming a sculptor, Francisque Duret had shown interest in pursuing a career in theater.

After his tutelage under his father, who passed when Duret was but twelve years old, he also studied under Bosio, and won the Prix de Rome in 1823, which he shared with Augustin Dumont for the bas-relief Evandre sur le corps de son fils Pallas.

Upon his return to Paris, he received numerous official commissions which assured him of his prestige alongside his work as professor at l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where he had among his students Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Jules Dalou as well as Louis-Léon Cugnot.

[2] In 1833 he exhibited his Neapolitan Fisher Dancing the Tarantella, now in the Louvre, a spirited statue in bronze, which established his reputation.

His works executed for public buildings include: France Protecting her Children (1855), a group in the grand style for the Louvre; two bronze atlantes at Napoleon's tomb in the Invalides; a colossal Christ in the church of the Madeleine; the statues of Comedy and Tragedy for the Théâtre Français; marble statues of Dunois, Philippe of France, Chateaubriand, and Richelieu at Versailles; and the group for the Fontaine Saint-Michel, representing that saint wrestling with Satan.