Renouveau Médiéval Et Sculpture Romantique : Le Retour Du Moyen Age Dans La Sculpture Européenne Entre 1750 Et 1900

The role played by sculpture in the Gothic Revival is little known. Yet so many statues of medieval heroes were erected all over Europe between 1750 and 1870, and so many Romanesque and Gothic churches and palaces, restored during this period, were endowed with abundant sculptural decoration that was also applied to new buildings inspired by medieval art. The authors of these statues inspired by the Middle Ages were practically unknown until now. The conservation of their works, still so little appreciated, is far from being assured. Some important artists, without participating in the restoration of medieval statuary or practicing the neo-Gothic style, have shown their attraction for Gothic art and have made sometimes unexpected borrowings from it. Among them, Flaxman, Schwanthaler, David d'Angers, Pradier, Marie d'Orléans, Félicie de Fauveau or Frémiet, but also, around 1900, Rodin, Carnés, Minne, Hoetger or Alfred Gilbert.