Cavelier, Pierre Jules

Pierre Jules Cavelier was born in August of 1814 and studied under both P. Delaroche and David D'Angers at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts after his entry in 1831.  In 1836 he won second prize at the Prix de Rome for his model of Death of Socrates and with his sculpture of Diomedes Removing the Image of the Goddes Pallas Athene from the Citadel of Troy he attained the Prix de Rome in 1842.  He was awarded two bronze medals (1842 and 1855) and the medal of honor in 1849, 1853, and 1861.  He later was appointed to a professorship at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1864.  After returning from a five year stay in Rome, he was awarded commissions from the Louvre for the caryatids and crown of the Turgot Pavilion along with several other impressive decorative elements of the Louvre.  Furthermore, he received commissions for city hall, the Opera, the Palais Galliera, the churches of Notre Dame and many other notable Parisian buildings.  Ultimately he was elected to membership of the Institut des Beaux-Arts in 1865. 

Literature:

• E. Benezit Dictionary of Artists, vol. III, Grund, p. 621-22
• Catalogue des Bronzes d'Art, F. Barbedienne, 1886, p. 41