Before becoming a sculptor, Francisque Duret had shown interest in pursuing a career in theater. He studied for a brief time at the Conservatoire and his friend
Charles Blanc (1813-1882), in an article which he dedicated in 1866, attested to the quality of observing human behavior which Duret had acquired outside his studies of drama: "His continual studies of the pantomime led him to pin down the language of gesture and the meaning of each disposition". Finally, it was the work of the sculptor which he decided to pursue. 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. He remained in Italy until 1828. 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. In 1833 he exhibited his
Neapolitan Fisher Dancing the Tarantella, now in the
Louvre, a spirited statue in bronze, which established his reputation. In the same class is his
Neapolitan Improvisatore (1839, Leipzig Museum). 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. One of his works,
Grape-picker Extemporizing, made in 1839, shows a man playing a
mandolin. The sculpture shows the instrument in the period when its popularity had declined outside of Italy. The instrument had left the concert halls, becoming a folk instrument. He received the medal of honor in 1855, was an Officer in the
Legion of Honor, and was made a member of the
Institut de France in 1845. ==Selected works==