Dancer - Jean-Joseph JAQUET (1822-1898)

Important sculpture in bronze with a nuanced dark brown patina
Signed on the base "J.J. Jaquet"
Cast by "Lecherf bronzier" (foundry mark)

France
circa 1880
height 171 cm
width 55 cm
depth 35 cm
diameter of the base 30 cm

Biography :
Jean-Joseph Jaquet (1822-1898) was a Belgian sculptor from Antwerp. Trained at the Antwerp Academy, then a student of Louis Jéhotte from Liège at the Brussels Academy (1839-1840), Jaquet perfected his skills in the workshop of Guillaume Geefs. For the Brussels Art Salon in 1842, Jaquet presented a marble bust, three plaster busts, a "Moses saved from the waters" and a "Meditating Saint Paul" which made him known. His contribution to the Salon of 1845 was important, including a model for a stone statue of the medieval chronicler Jean Froissart for the town of Chimay. We also owe him certain statues adorning the Royal Saint-Hubert galleries in Brussels in 1847.

Recognized as an official statuary, Jean-Joseph Jaquet spent his entire career responding to multiple orders from public authorities, the government and municipalities, in Belgium and the Netherlands. More than 300 statues and around thirty busts are to his credit, including the Baudouin of Constantinople, in Mons in 1868, the pediment and lions of the Palais de la Bourse in Brussels in 1872 and the statue of Queen Louise-Marie in Philippeville in 1878. Jaquet was also one of the authors of the Independence monument in The Hague, with the sculptures of Willem I and the three characters Van Hogendorp, Van der Duyn van Maasdam and Van Limburg Stirum.

Jaquet was a professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. Teaching sculpture based on the ancient figure, Jaquet succeeded Jéhotte as professor from 1863 to 1898, and also taught the ornamental sculpture course from 1888 to 1898.

Lecherf was a Belgian founder located in Brussels. He began his activity in 1841, at 11 rue des Pigeons. The foundry appeared under the name of Lecherf Frères from 1868, at 88 rue Haute then at 14 Rue Blaes, then under the name of Lecherf Gustave from 1885. The foundry was finally taken over in 1897 by G. Chouanard.