Ruede, Francois

He was the son of a stove-maker and was originally engaged in the craft of his father. At the age of 16 he entered the Dijon Academy of Arts and began to study drawing under the guidance of the local painter Devoj. With a recommendation letter from this artist, he appeared in 1807 in Paris to the chief director of the imperial museums, Baron Denon , who, being satisfied with the model of the young sculptor’s work shown to him, with the statuette “Theseus lifting the throwing disc from the ground”, took part in it and contributed to his definition, first as a student of Gol, and then in the workshop of the Cartel and, finally, in the Paris School of Fine Arts. In 1812 , Ryud was awarded the second Roman Prize , but political circumstances did not allow him to go to Italy. In 1815 , he moved to Brussels , where he found a patron in the person of the famous Louis David and thanks to his assistance he was instructed to decorate the La Monnet opera house with sculptural works, which he executed using David's advice. In addition, having executed a bust of the Dutch king William and eight bas-reliefs for the palace in Tervarenca, he returned to Paris in 1827 and soon took a very prominent place among his artists.

The main of his works, which have appeared since that time, are statues of the Virgin (marble, in the church of Hervasius), “Neapolitan fisherman boy playing with a turtle” (marble, 1831 , in the Louvre ), “Mercury, binding wings to his sandals after the murder of Argus "(Bronze, 1827 , ibid.) And" Jeanne d'Arc "(marble, 1852 , ibid.), The group" Baptism of the Lord "(in the church of St. Magdalene )," Crucifixion "(bronze, 1852, in the church of St. Vincent de Fields ), "Hebe with the Eagle of Jupiter" (marble) and "Departure to the Campaign" (also known as the "Marseillaise" on the Arc de Triomphe on horse’s flats ), the monuments of Marshal Ney (in Paris, on the Avenue de l'Observatoire), Napoleon I (in Fixen , near Dijon), G. Monge (in Bonn ) and Marshal Bertrand (in Chateauroux ), bas-reliefs “Prometheus, animate art ”(In the building of the Legislative Chamber) and“ The Return of the French Army from Egypt ”( on the Arc de Triomphe in the Star Square ), a tombstone of Caveniac (at the Montmartre Cemetery), busts of Laperouse (in the Maritime Museum, in the Louvre), Louis David (in the Louvre) Prince Moritz of Saxony (ibid.), etc.

The ESBE evaluates Ryud’s work as follows: “In R.'s works, an antique understanding of the beauty of forms, combined with great vitality and strong expressiveness, is revealed. However, not all of them are equally successful; for example, the statue of Ney in his Parisian monument is ugly, the relief of the Star’s arch is arranged rather confused and not picturesque, and the lying figure of Caveniac in his monument is too realistic. ”

• M. Legrand, “Rude, sa vie, ses oeuvres, son enseignement” (Paris, 1856 ),
• Ch. Piosot, Notice sur le sculpteur Fr. Rude ”(Dijon, 1857 ).
• Ryud, Francois // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• (fr.) Works of Ryuda
• (Eng.) Works of Ryuda
• (Fr.) On the site of the city of Dijon