The School of Fine Arts in Dijon
In the Museum of Fines Arts of Dijon, a room named “Hall of the Statues” allows the visitors to contemplate beautiful sculptures carved by the students of the School of Art in Dijon.
Ancient sculptures were a very important source of inspiration for the artists from the Renaissance period until the XIXth century. During their training, students were copying these sculptures, again and again, to master the classic techniques of representation of the body, as a symbol of ideal beauty.
A competition, the « Prix de Rome » (eng. Price of Rome), was organized by the States of Burgundy. The winners could have traveled to Italy to improve their sculpting skills.
The works that somes of the competition winners have sent from Italy at the end of their training are now displayed in the “Salle des Statues”. These works have been copied from the most famous models of antic sculptures, representing gods or heroes of Greek Mythology: the Apollo of the Belvedere by Renaud, Borghese Gladiator by Petitot, and Medicis Venus by Bertrand.
The classical sculpture: the myth of Whiteness
The monumental white marble figures of Greek and roman heroes, gods and goddesses, representing ideal beauty, symbolizing their perfection and their immortality, have fascinated people and artists through the centuries.
In the XVIIth, XVIIIth and XIXth centuries, young artists studying sculpture had to copy the ancient works of art. Since the Renaissance period, and the rediscovery of ancient art and texts, Greek sculpture and mythology became the main source of inspiration for artistic movements such as Classicism. It symbolized the ideal beauty that only professional artists could represent.
Everybody believed these statues, carved in marble, were originally white, and this colour became a strong symbol of purity in European culture. This misconception is still lasting nowadays.
In fact, ancient sculptures were painted in vivid colours, that allowed the Greeks and Romans to attract the gaze of Gods. In their opinion, painting and sculpture were related and had an important religious dimension. When these statues were unearthed in the Renaissance, most of them had lost their original colours, and artists imitated them as they were: in white colour.
The polychromy of these statues was discovered in the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries, but they were reproduced in white: this colour became a symbol of the superiority of European culture and History on other civilizations.
François Rude: Hébé and the Eagle of Jupiter
Born in Dijon, François Rude was a major sculptor of the first half of the XIXth century.
As his contemporaries, he was aiming for “the perfection of antic sculpture” in his art. Winner of the “Prix de Rome”, he could have traveled to Rome in order to perfect his sculpting skills. He was particularly inspired by the anatomy of marbles in the Parthenon.
He became very famous. In 1846, the city of Dijon committed him a sculpture: Hébé and the eagle of Jupiter. For François Rude, it was an artistic testament, his last work of art.
In Greek mythology, Hébé is Jupiter’s daughter, who is represented as an eagle. He caresses her with his large wings in a protective way. She is holding a cup of ambrosia in her right hand. This detail is reminding us of her mission: she is the cupbearer of the gods, to whom ambrosia brings immortality. Therefore, she is the goddess of eternal youth.
This marble sculpture resembles classical sculptures: a thematic is inspired by Greek Mythology, a goddess is represented with an ideal beauty… The elegant undulation of Hébé’s body, the gracious movement of the drapery and the eagle’s wings brings delicacy and emotion to the sculpture, representing François Rude’s romantic sensibility.
Charles-Alexandre Renaud, L'Apollon du Belvédère, marbre, 1779, © Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon/François Jay, inv. CA 1070
Pierre Petitot, Gladiateur combattant, marbre, 1786, , © Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon/François Jay, inv. CA 1062
Antoine-Henri Bertrand, La Vénus de Médicis, marbre, avant 1787, , © Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon/François Jay, inv. CA 944
François Rude, Paul Cabet, Hébé et l'Aigle de Jupiter, marbre, de 1847 à 1855 et de 1855 à 1857, , © Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon/François Jay, inv. CA 1075
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