Onésime-Aristide Croisy was a French sculptor. He is known for his dramatic bronze military statues, but perhaps best known for his marble Le Nid, showing two children asleep in an armchair.
Formation
Onésime-Aristide Croisy was born in Fagnon, a village in the Ardennes, on 31 March 1840. His father was Adolphe Croisy, a master mason who was later responsible for building the fortifications at Mézières, Ardennes. His mother was Marie-Charlotte Villière. He made his first models while living at Mézieres. He entered the École des Beaux-Arts on 8 October 1857. His teachers were Armand Toussaint and Charles Gumery. He also studied under Augustin-Alexandre Dumont. He won the second 2nd-class grand prize of the Prix de Rome in 1863. The subject The subject was Nisus et Euryale. He competed again in 1865 and won the first 2nd-class grand prize. In 1865 the École des Beaux-Arts awarded him the grand medal for sculpture. His real debut was at the Salon of 1867.
Career
After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 Croisy received several orders to glorify the French war heroes. On 20 October 1875 he married Louise Pouillard in Charleville, Ardennes. He excelled in expressive and vigorous bronze sculptures of military subjects. These included the sculpture Monument à l'armée de la Loire et au général Chanzy in Orléans, the bas-reliefs of the Statue de Chanzy in Le Mans and the statue of Mobile in Sainte-Anne-d'Auray. He also sculpted General Boulanger and the statue of Étienne Méhul, author of the Chant du départ..., for his home town of Givet. He made the groups surrounding the pedestal of the monument of General Chanzy erected at Le Mans in 1885, representing four episodes of national defense. In 1875 Croisy made a plaster statue of Paolo and Francesca showing two innocent young lovers in Florentine dress reading a book together. This was a common theme at the time, from which Auguste Rodin would make a dramatic departure with his famous The Kiss of 1881. In 1877 Croisy worked on restoration of the chapel of the Palace of Versailles. He made various allegorical statues for monuments in Paris such as Architecture for the Paris Bourse. Croisy sculpted Le Nid in 1882, considered to be his masterpiece. It received 2nd medal at the Salon that year. The work was acquired for the Musée du Luxembourg, then in 1901 deposited at Montbrison, Loire. It was placed in a pavilion in the Allard garden beside the bus route, then spent some time in the hall of the Beauregard hospital, and then was placed in the Allard Museum in Montbrison. Made of polished white marble it represents two children, a brother and sister, asleep in a comfortable armchair. Croisy was awarded the Legion of Honor in 1885. The entrance portico of the Bourse de commerce, built in 1888–89 is surmounted by a pediment supported by four fluted Corinthian columns on which three allegorical figures by Croisy represent the City of Paris flanked by Trade and Abundance. Aristide Croisy died on 7 November 1899 at Fagnon, his native town. Apart from Le Nid his best works include La Priere d'Abel; Psyche; Paola Malatesta et Francoise de Rimini; Le Moissonneur; L'Architecture ; Mercure for the Jardin du Palais Royal; Méhul, for Givet; Le General Chanzy, for Nouart, repeated for Beaugency; A la Memoire des Soldats morts pour la Patrie ; L'Armie de la Loire, for which he won a First Medal for Sculpture in the Salon of I895.
Salons
Works exhibited at the Salons up to 1888 included:
