Hippolyte Lefèbvre

{{use dmy dates |date=July 2024}} '''Hippolyte-Jules Lefèbvre''' (4 February 1863 - November 1935) was a French sculptor and medallist who received numerous official marks of recognition in his day but is now largely forgotten. His most prominent works are the monumental equestrian sculptures of Joan of Arc and Louis IX of France, set up on the Basilique du Sacré Cœur, Paris.

== Biography == Lefèbvre was born on 4 February 1863, in Lille. From a working-class background, he made his first studies at the École des Beaux-Arts, Lille, where he won numerous prizes and was sent with a municipal scholarship to study at the École des beaux-arts, Paris.<ref name="American Numismatic Society 1911">{{cite book |author=American Numismatic Society |author-link=American Numismatic Society |others=Introduction by Agnes Baldwin |chapter=Hippolyte Lefebvre |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/catalogueofinter01amer/page/182/mode/2up |title=Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Contemporary Medals: The American Numismatic Society, March, 1910 |url=https://archive.org/details/catalogueofinter01amer |year=1911 |oclc=79900236 |pages=182–186 |publisher=New York |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> In 1882 he moved to Paris, where he was a pupil of Pierre-Jules Cavelier, Louis-Ernest Barrias and Jules Coutan. He began exhibiting regularly at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1887, and in 1892, after receiving seconds in 1888 and 1891, won the Grand Prix de Rome in sculpture; on his return to Paris he pursued a successful official career. He was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and an officer in 1925.

Aside from Sacré-Coeur, where he also provided sculpture for the high altar, his public sculpture is to be seen also at the Grand Palais, Paris, where he received a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle (1900). His kneeling funeral figure of Léon-Adolphe Cardinal Amette, 1923, is in the Chapel of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Notre-Dame de Paris. He was called upon to provide sculpture for a number of monuments to the fallen of World War I. His ''Jeunes Aveugles'' (1902) won a medal of honor and was purchased for the collections at the Palais du Luxembourg, Paris.

His work may also be found on the Opéra de Lille, 1914; the ''Allegory of the Republic'' in the ''cour d'honneur'' of the French embassy in Vienna (built 1904);<ref name="ambafrance-at.org 2006-02-28">{{cite web |title=Ambassade de France à Vienne |website=ambafrance-at.org |date=2006-02-28 |url=http://www.ambafrance-at.org/visite/histoire.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070709205027/http://www.ambafrance-at.org/visite/histoire.htm |archive-date=2007-07-09 |url-status=dead}}</ref> a marble ''Niobe'' at the Tour de Roland, Arles;<ref name="patrimoine.ville-arles.fr 2011-07-18">{{cite web |title=Ville d'Histoire et de Patrimoine |website=patrimoine.ville-arles.fr |date=2011-07-18 |url=http://www.patrimoine.ville-arles.fr/arles/ville.cfm?action=fiche_document_edifice&id_document=773&id=6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061203004801/http://www.patrimoine.ville-arles.fr/arles/ville.cfm?action=fiche_document_edifice&id_document=773&id=6 |archive-date=2006-12-03 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Tuloup|first= Jean-Claude|date= September 2002|title= Niobé|url= http://www.amisduvieilarles.com/assets/files/bulletins/pdf/116p.pdf|newspaper= Bulletin des Amis du Vieil Arles|issue= 116|pages=4–7|location= Arles|language=fr}}</ref> and at the Hôtel de Ville, Roubaix.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.calameo.com/read/000053137377fb2916fa2 |title=Roubaix 1911|publisher= Espace Ville Patrimoine la Condition Publique Roubaix| access-date=21 October 2024}}</ref>

Lefebvre was often called upon to make commemorative medals, such as one celebrating the centenary of Argentine independence, 1910;<ref name="hippolyte_lefebvre6.htm">{{cite web |title=Hippolyte Lefebvre, bronze medal for the Centenary of Argentinian independance in 1810-1910 |website=finemedals.com |date=2004-01-31 |url=http://www.finemedals.com/hippolyte_lefebvre6.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031118023432/http://www.finemedals.com/hippolyte_lefebvre6.htm |archive-date=2003-11-18 |url-status=dead |access-date=2024-07-21}}</ref> one commemorating Jules Gosset, for the Société des Sciences, Lille; one that the architect Louis M. Cordonnier, member of the ''Institut de France'', distributed to friends and colleagues, 26 January 1912; Fondation Firmin Rainbeaux, 1930.<ref name="hippolyte_lefebvre11.htm ">{{cite web |title=Hippolyte Lefebvre, bronze medal "Firmin Rimbeaux" |website=finemedals.com |date=2005-02-28 |url=http://www.finemedals.com/hippolyte_lefebvre11.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050115090913/http://www.finemedals.com/hippolyte_lefebvre11.htm |archive-date=2005-01-15 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

His workshop drawings and jottings, unlike his finished sculpture, approached abstraction.<ref name="Venator 2004">{{cite web |last=Venator |first=Michael |title=Hippolyte Lefebvre |website=Presentation Collection Michael Venator |date=2004-11-19 |url=https://www.old-master-drawings.com/lesoublies/HJLefebvre.htm |language=fr |access-date=2024-07-21}}</ref>

Lefèbvre died in November 1935, in Arcueil.

== Legacy == A street commemorates him in Lille and a quai in Mondeville.

== Gallery ==

{{Gallery |align=center |mode="packed" |height="200" |File:Jardin d'été,marbre Niobé.jpg|Niobe (1897), {{ill|Garden of Summer|qid=Q47787335|short=yes}}, Arles |File:Hippolyte Lefèbvre HSBC 1.jpg|''La Danse'' (1898), facade of the {{ill|Hôtel Élysée Palace|fr}}, Paris, Champs-Élysées |File:Pamiers statue Elégante au Parapluie par Hippolyte Lefèbvre (1863-1935) à Pamiers.jpg|''The Elegant Lady with the Umbrella'' (1905), Pamiers |File:DUCHESNE Louis, Médaillon Louis Duchesne par Hippolyte Lefebvre, 1910 (1).jpg|medallion of Louis Duchesne (1910), plaque |File:Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre- crypte - Léon-Adolphe Amette, cardinal par Hippolyte Lefèbvre.JPG|Funeral moument for Léon-Adolphe Amette (1923), Paris, crypt of the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre. |File:Cheval de la façade du Sacré Coeur.JPG|{{ill|Equestrian statue of Joan of Arc (Basilica of Sacré-Cœur)|fr|Statue équestre de Jeanne d'Arc}} (1927), Paris, Basilica of Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre |File:04-2017. París-5.jpg|{{ill|Equestrian Statue of Louis IX|fr|Statue équestre de Louis IX}}, (1827), 18th arrondissement of Paris |File:Mines de Lens médaille reconstruction 1929.jpg|medal for the {{ill|Lens Mining Company|fr|Compagnie des mines de Lens}} (1929) }}

== Notes == {{reflist|2}}

== External links == {{commons category|Hippolyte Lefèbvre}} * {{FrenchSculptureCensus}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lefebvre, Hippolyte}} Category:1863 births Category:1935 deaths Category:19th-century French male artists Category:19th-century French sculptors Category:20th-century French sculptors Category:French male sculptors Category:19th-century French medallists Category:20th-century French medallists Category:Members of the Académie des beaux-arts Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour Category:Prix de Rome for sculpture