Ernest Christophe | |
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![]() Photograph of Christophe by Nadar | |
Born | Ernest Louis Aquilas Christophe 15 January 1827 Loches, Indre-et-Loire, France |
Died | 14 January 1892 17th arrondissement of Paris, France |
Resting place | Batignolles Cemetery 48°53′49″N 2°18′50″E / 48.897°N 2.314°E |
Nationality | French |
Known for | Sculpture |
Notable work | The Human Comedy |
Ernest Louis Aquilas Christophe (15 January 1827 – 14 January 1892) was a French sculptor, a student of François Rude and a friend of Charles Baudelaire.[1] Rude assigned him to help with the bronze recumbent effigy to Éléonore-Louis Godefroi Cavaignac, a French politician. The funerary monument is signed Rude et Christophe, son jeune élève (Rude and Cristophe, his young pupil).[1][2] His Le Masque (the Mask) sculpture won Christophe third place in the Paris Salon in 1876 and two of his sculptures, La Fatalité (Fatality) and Le Baiser suprême (The supreme kiss) were acquired by the Musée du Luxembourg.[1]
Christophe developed a deep friendship with Cuban-born French poet José-Maria de Heredia and made him his testamentary legatee. De Heredia collected part of Ernest's library after his death.[3] He is buried in the Batignolles Cemetery.[1]