Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu

1833-1891

Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu was born in Paris and trained at France’s premier art school, the Ecole des Beaux Arts. In 1851, he won the Prix de Rome (the Rome Prize) which is the most prestigious award given to French art students. With his style of naturalism and his story-telling themes, he went on to be a recognized artist and teacher. Originally sculpted in marble in 1870, Chapu’s Joan of Arc was so popular that he produced numerous copies of it, most of them in bronze and in various sizes. Artists often use the technique of bronze-casting to create multiples of their work (called editions) and, thus, they can be available to a larger audience.  Inscriptions on the base of the sculpture include Chapu’s name as the artist as well as the Parisian foundry, Barbedienne, who produced this cast. The number and date of the edition is not currently known.