Dalou, Jules

Dalou, Jules (b Paris, 31 Dec. 1838; d Paris, 15 Apr. 1902).
French sculptor. Among French sculptors of his generation he ranks second only to Rodin. His work was more conventional than Rodin's, sometimes using the heroic language and allegorical devices of Baroque tradition, but it has a naturalistic warmth that is far removed from the chilliness of much statuary of the time. He had left-wing political views and after supporting the Commune (the short-lived revolutionary government of Paris in 1871) he spent the period 1871–9 in exile in London. On his return to Paris he began work on his best-known achievement, a huge bronze group of the Triumph of the Republic, eventually unveiled in 1899 (Place de la Nation, Paris). An even more ambitious work, a vast Monument to Labour, was left uncompleted at his death, but clay models for many of the figures are preserved in the Petit Palais, Paris. Dalou's other public statuary included the memorial to Delacroix in the Luxembourg Gardens, Paris (1890), and he also produced smaller works, including portrait busts.