MATHURIN MOREAU (France, 1822-1912). "La tempête". Bronze on marble base. Signed and inscribed "Hors. Concours." With stamp "Medaille D'honneur". Measurements: 81 cm (height). A mother protects her two children from the storm. As on this occasion, Mathurin Moreau's characters thus become modern heroes, humble or proud, indifferent even, but always admirable and captured with a poetic accent that transcends the simple representation of the natural. Mathurin Moreau was a French sculptor, born in Dijon in 1822, son of the famous sculptor Jean Baptiste Moreau. His two brothers, Hippolyte and Auguste, were also renowned sculptors. Mathurin Moreau entered the École des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1841 and the following year won the Second Grand Prix de Rome, and exhibited his work for the first time at the Salon of 1848. Mathurin also won the Gold Medal at the 1855 Paris Exposition Universelle for his Fontaine de Tourny, which is now in Quebec. Mathurin Moreau worked in the traditional academic style with a mixture of realism and classical elegance. In 1897 he received a Salon medal of honor and was a member of the jury during the 1900 Universal Exposition in Paris. Today he is represented in numerous museums and private collections around the world, including the Musee D'Orsay.