About Just Becquet (French, 1829 – 1907)

Just Becquet, sculptor 1829-1907 [print] / Photo: Teulet, [Place of publication unknown]: Teulet, [1800-1899]

Just André François Becquet, was born in Besançon (Doubs) on 17 June 1829. He was the son of a goldsmith and studied humanities at the Besançon lycée, culminating in a baccalaureate in philosophy. From a young age he drew well and was musical. Becquet would gladly recount that, as a child, he would remove the fresh putty with which the glaziers sealed their panes, and mould “little men” from it. He attended the Municipal School of Fine Arts where his talent was spotted the sculptor Jules Franceshci. Franceschi was also from Besançon and was a student of François Rude (1784-1855), and saw in Becquet a natural aptitude for sculpture. Becquet left for Paris with no other support than his mother’s wishes, and spent a year of constant work as a pupil of Rude. During his apprenticeship, Becquet would supplement his income as a cellist at the Théâtre Français. When Rude closed his studio in 1851, his other pupils went to work for David d’Angers but Becquet chose to continue alone. Remaining exclusively faithful to the cult of his master, he would seek only Rude’s guidance. This early independence of spirit would characterise his career. Alone, almost without friends and wholly devoted to his art, he tackled the difficulties of his craft and refined his taste.

Rude thought that Becquet showed great promise. He visited, gave advice and made a great impression on this nascent talent. As time passed, commercial success was not forthcoming, and Becquet’s family worried but were reassured by Rude, who said “Your son will one day be a great sculptor”. Becquet made his debut at the Salon of 1853 and soon after exhibited two important works in plaster, ‘A Faun Playing with a Panther’ and ‘Saint Sebastian’. In 1864 his ‘Christ on the Cross’ was honoured at the Salon but in spite of these successes, as the age of 35, Becquet was not wealthy. Unable to afford marble, he was reduced to modelling in clay. He was sufficiently discouraged to seek employment in the office of a stockbroker.

In the late 1850s, he became a friend of American painter James McNeill Whistler during his bohemian days in Paris. In 1859, Whistler etched a portrait of Becquet holding the cello. The Whistler Journal recalls: “Becquet was a man loved by his friends, but he was unsuccessful, unrecognized. He lived in his studio where there was nothing but disorder and his ‘cello, for he was a great musician. […] He lived by playing in an orchestra at some theatre. Sarah Bernhardt saw him once as he played, was struck by his beauty, asked who he was, and sent for him to come to her dressing-room. But he would not hear of it—he would have nothing to do with that! And there was a story of a composer who asked Becquet to play his music; at first Becquet said no, then he consented, and the composer wept as he listened, and the two embraced. (E. R. & J. Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, pp. 90-91).

In 1865 he was finally able to afford a block of marble and carved a bust of ‘The Woman of Franche-Comté’ (n° 2863). It was shown again at the Exposition universelle of 1900 (n° 1474). In 1869 ‘The Grape Harvester’ (n° 3243) earned him a medal and it was commissioned in marble by the state for the Tuileries Gardens. The marble version is probably that exhibition at the Salon in 1886 (n° 3489) with the title ‘Apologie de la vigne française’. In 1870, ‘Ishmael’, received great praise, and was also commissioned in marble for Musée du Luxembourg and shown in 1877 (n° 3591) and at the Exposition universelle of 1878 (n° 1098).

Thereafter he was a regular exhibitor at the Salon, but he worked without haste, with great attention to detail and completely disinterested in the whims of fancy. This success stimulated a re-appreciation worthy of Rude’s best pupil, with Becquet’s earlier works now receiving the attention they deserved. He was now able to carve in marble his earlier statues of ‘A Faun Playing with a Panther’, ‘Saint Sebastian’ and ‘Christ on the Cross’. All were re-exhibited at the Salon and entered the national collection. Several other works of his are in the museums of Besançon, Rouen, Tours, and Saint-Brieuc.

In 1888, Becquet exhibited the plaster bust of his mentor François Rude, which was commissioned in marble by the state and later displayed in the Louvre Museum’s gallery of portraits of the masters. Becquet was a good musician, an enthusiast for the works of Beethoven, Schubert, Bach and other great composers. In 1895 he made a statue entitled ‘La Voix du Violencelle’ (a standing female nude playing the cello) which was also shown at the 1900 Paris Exposition universelle.

In all, Becquet won medals at the Salons of 1869 and 1870, a first medal in 1877, a second at the Exposition universelle of 1878, a silver medal at the Exposition universelle of 1889, a gold medal at the Exposition universelle of 1900, and finally the Medal of Honour at the Salon of 1904. Appointed Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1878, he was promoted to Officer of the same order in 1898.

Of himself, he said “I work for posterity”. Never did a man seek fame and fortune less. He always refused to allow any of his works to be reproduced for commercial purposes. He would spend ten years on a figure and did not use an assistant to complete his work; he wanted to work the marble himself until he was satisfied. Often, he revisited subjects he had previously treated with a fresh perspective. He did not hesitate to modify a finished model if he saw a movement to change.

Becquet, the last surviving member of Rude’s studio, always worked according to his master’s methods and remained faithful to his teachings until the end. He was a hardworking and conscientious artist. Becquet was also remembered as an excellent musician, practising the cello for two hours every day and played alongside great concert musicians. He died in Paris, at 27 rue de la Procession, at the beginning of March 1907, and was buried in Besançon, his birthplace.

“One would find in vain, in the history of contemporary Paris, a simpler life, a more modest and upright temperament than that of Just Becquet. From the beginning of his career, he had made his art a lofty ideal which he followed without deviating from it until his last day. Inaccessible to the contingencies of life, he lived only for and through his work. He found his income in state commissions, which were rather poorly paid, in the rare monuments erected by public subscriptions, and in busts of contemporaries, which were even rarer, barely enough to cover the costs of his work as a sculptor and ensure a frugal existence. For nearly thirty years, he even had to resort to his considerable talent as a cellist to meet part of his material needs; for a long time, he was seen holding his place in the orchestra of the Théâtre Français, demanding from the musician’s bow the resources that the sculptor’s hand could not. His modesty was content with the successes that the superiority of his talent earned him with the general public. His conversation, devoid of bitterness, revolves around his works, whose genesis he likes to recount, and his revered master, “Monsieur Rude.” which he always evokes with emotion, in sculpture and in music, which he cultivates with equal passion. He speaks philosophically.” (Abridged and translated from M. le Dr Limon, ‘Just Becquet Sculpteur Bisontin’, Séance publique du 19 décembre 1907, pp. 15-27. Mémories de la Société d’Émulation du Doubs, Besançon, 1907).

Bibliography:
Mickaël Zito, Le geste sûr. Just Becquet (1829-1907), un sculpteur Bisontin, Exhibition Catalogue, 29 June to 13 October, 2019, Besançon, Musée des beaux-arts et d’archéologie, Silvana Editoriale. 2019