French sculptor and engraver of medals. He devoted himself from the beginning to the medallist's branch of sculpture, although he also excelled in monumental sculpture and portrait busts. He may be considered the father of the modern medal. Having carried off the grand prize for medal engraving in 1831, he had a sensational success with his Wounded Gladiator, which he exhibited in the same year. He subsequently occupied official posts as designer, first to the Inland Revenue Office, and then to the Mint. Among his most famous medals are that struck in commemoration of the annexation of Savoy by France, and that on the occasion of the peace of Villafranca. Of his monumental works, many are to be seen in public places in and near Paris. In the Tuileries gardens is his group of Daphnis and Hebe; in the Luxembourg gardens the Queen Bertha; at the Louvre the Buffon; and in the courtyard of the same palace the Bathsheba. A monument to General Espagne is at the Invalides, and a King Louis VIII at Versailles. //