Jean-baptiste Clesinger Biography
Jean-Baptiste (Auguste) Clésinger, born in Besançon on 22 October 1814, was a French sculptor and painter. In Rome, Clésinger studied under the Danish sculptor Thorwaldsen. After returning to France, he entered the studio of David d'Angers. Between 1840 and 1841, he worked in Switzerland producing many busts.
In 1847, Clésinger created "The Woman Bitten by a Snake", exhibited at the Salon. The work caused scandal both for the subject treated and for the method used to produce it: he modeled the model's body through a cast from life, highlighting the eroticism of the subject. After several years in which he had stayed away from exhibitions, in 1859, to attract the attention of France to himself, he sent to the Salon, from his studio in Rome, two marble statues "Saffo and Gypsy", various busts and a large painting of "Eve tempted while sleeping", which brought him an almost triumphal success.
In 1864, Clésinger returned to Paris, where he continued to sculpt until his death on January 6, 1883.
