Born in
Valenciennes,
Nord, son of a mason, his early studies were under
François Rude. Carpeaux entered the
École des Beaux-Arts in 1844 and won the
Prix de Rome in 1854, and moving to Rome to find inspiration, he there studied the works of
Michelangelo,
Donatello and
Verrocchio. Staying in Rome from 1854 to 1861, he obtained a taste for movement and spontaneity, which he joined with the great principles of
baroque art. Carpeaux sought real life subjects in the streets and broke with the classical tradition. Carpeaux debuted at the
Salon of 1853 exhibiting ''La Soumission d'Abd-el-Kader al'Empereur'', a
bas-relief in plaster that did not attract much attention. Carpeaux was an admirer of
Napoléon III and followed him from city to city during Napoléon's official trip through the north of France. After initially not making any contact with the emperor, he finally succeeded in arranging a face-to-face encounter at
Amiens where he managed to convince Napoléon to commission a marble statue that was to be carried out by a practitioner, Charles Romain Capellaro. He employed his brother as the sales manager and made a calculated effort to produce work that would appeal to a larger audience. On 12 October 1875, he died at
George Barbu Știrbei's
château in
Bécon-les-Bruyères, outside
Courbevoie. Among his students were
Jules Dalou,
Jean-Louis Forain and the American sculptor
Olin Levi Warner. == Work ==