The French sculptor Victor Sappey was born in Grenoble in Isère on 11 February 1801 and died on 23 March 1856. He was also known as Pierre-Victor Sappey. His father was a stonemason.
Biography
Sappey worked in the workshop of Rogge in Paris in 1824. He lived for two years in Egypt with his friend Jean Achard, a famous painter from Dauphiné, and a group of St. Simonians. He was professor then director of the École des Beaux-Arts de Grenoble. He was also one of the first sculptors to use cement as a sculptural material, with for example the statue of "Génie des Alpes" in Uriage-les-Bains, Isère. This was destroyed, but the model is still kept at the Musée dauphinois. He was a friend of Théodore Ravanat and Henri Fantin-Latour, and was close to all members of the École dauphinoise that he attended in Proveysieux. He was the father-in-law of the Grenoble sculptor Aimé Charles Irvoy.
Works
Work entitled "Le Drac"
This work In terra cotta was executed in 1833 and is held by the musée de Grenoble, who purchased it in 1856. The Drac is a major French river in the region.
The fountain des dauphins
This fountain is in Grenoble and is also known as the "Château d'eau" or "Fontaine des dauphins". The fountain was erected as a tribute to the Marquis de Lavalette who was a mayor of Grenoble and created many public fountains in the city. Nadon was the sculptor of the complete fountain with Sappey creating the four winged angels riding dauphins. See photograph.
Over many years Grenoble had suffered from severe flooding. This fountain, completed in 1843, is located near the Saint-Laurent bridge in Grenoble. In Sappey's composition the lion symbolizes the city of Grenoble defeating the Isère river which is represented by a snake. Sappey was inspired by the violent encounter of the two rivers, the Drac and Isère, which often burst their banks causing flooding and devastation in the Grenoble area. The lion is carved from stone whilst the snake is in bronze.
This monument was erected in 1838 in honour of General de Boigne who had been a generous donor to the town of Chambéry. It celebrates de Boigne's achievements in India. The "Fontaine des éléphants" comprises a pedestal and fountain, a column and a statue. Four elephants, only their front legs head and trunks being visible, appear to emerge from the four sides of the pedestal and there are four bas-reliefs at the very top of this pedestal, these depicting scenes from de Boigne's life in India. Then around the top of the pedestal, Sappey carves various mementos of Indian life. From the pedestal a tall column emerges and on top of that column is a statue of de Boigne himself. The monument was inaugurated on 10 December 1838. Water runs down from the elephant's trunks into the fountain's basins.
The "Fontaine de la nymphe" or fountain Hygie, Uriage les Bains
Uriage les Bains is a spa town, with thermal springs, and Sappey's composition for the town's fountain is a depiction of the Goddess Hygie.
Alexandre Michal-Ladichère
In 1836, Sappey completed a plaster medallion depicting Alexandre Michal-Ladichère. It is held in the musée de Grenoble.
