Taxonomy term

Barry Bergdoll: "d'Angers and the Architectural Stakes of Romantic History"

This lecture examines David d'Angers's monumental commissions of the 1820s and 1830s in relation to the Bourbon Restoration, the July Monarchy, and the politics of public memory. It also will consider the sculptor's relationship to the period's architects and their collaborative work on the transformation of urban space in Paris.

Dorothy Johnson: "Vital Signs: The Art of David d'Angers"

Link to video of Dorothy Johnson lecture

Dorothy Johnson explores the significance of David d'Angers's public and private works, from medallions and busts to statues and statuettes of famous figures. In particular, she considers the ways in which David read and interpreted the world and the individuals who helped shape it as visible signs of a hidden language of nature and culture.

Emerson Bowyer: "Sculpting History: David d'Angers and the Romantic Monument"

In a celebrated passage from his Histoire de la Révolution Française, historian Jules Michelet (1833–1867) asserted that the French Revolution left no lasting monuments, only empty space. Pierre-Jean David d’Angers (1788–1856), perhaps the greatest sculptor of the early nineteenth century, made it his life’s work to fill that void. This lecture follows David’s attempts to reinvigorate and adapt the notion of a historical monument to the new social and political landscape of modernity.