Jean-Baptiste-Gustave Deloye

Jean-Baptiste-Gustave Deloye was born in the Ardennes in 1838, and as a young artist in Paris studied under respected sculptors Jouffroy and Dantan the Younger. During a long career exhibiting at the Paris Salon, Deloye won acclaim for his busts and medallions of celebrated contemporaries. In 1892 he was awarded the Légion d’honneur.

 After the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871, Deloye stayed in Vienna, Austria, where he created busts of Count Andrassy, Count Levachoff and of the Prince of Liechtenstein. He returned to Paris in 1879 and made a statue of Charles-Nicolas Cochin, located at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris. He also worked for the Châteaux of Chenonceau and Boissiere, and modeled the portraits, statues and decorations which were inspired by art of the 18^th century. One of his most important works is the Garibaldi Monument, which was erected in Nice.

 Carved in 1870, this lovely marble figure depicts an unidentified young female nude. The girl represents an imaginative world of pleasure and freedom, and is an excellent example of Deloye’s mastery of decorative work.

 Other examples of Deloye’s sculpture can be found in the following collections: a plaster sculpture titled Saint-Marc, inventory number RF 3683 in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and a bronze titled Buste de Frédérick Lemaître, inventory number 11238;3114 in the Musée d'Art Histoire et Archéologie in Évreux.

RELATED LITERATURE

S. Lami, Dictionnaire des Sculpteurs de l'École Francaise au dix-neuvieme siècle, Paris, 1916, vol. 2, p. 158