Bust of Saint Louis as a child by Jean Carriès, patinated plaster.
Jean Joseph Marie Carriès was born in Lyon in 1855 into a modest family. Orphaned at the age of 6, he was brought up in an orphanage then placed in 1868 as an apprentice with Pierre Vermare, sculptor of religious objects. In 1874, he arrived in Paris where he modeled the first heads of the Disinherited series. After his military service in Montauban, he was impressed by the arts of the Far East, particularly by Japanese ceramics, which led him to devote himself to the art of fire. He enjoyed success during his lifetime, receiving rave reviews during the exhibition of his works at various fairs, and acquisitions by museums. In 1890, he embarked on the ambitious project of the monumental sandstone door for the Hôtel de la Princesse de Scey-Montbéliard. This project cost Carriès enormously, both financially and in terms of the energy and time he devoted to it. He died in 1894, having profoundly marked the art of his time.
