Rude, François

Rude, François (fräNswä` rüd), 1784–1855, French sculptor. As a Bonapartist, he left Paris after the battle of Waterloo and spent 12 years in Brussels. Rude is best known for his monumental relief on the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, The Departure of the Volunteers, known also as La Marseillaise. This work has been much admired for its patriotic fervor and force of execution. Other examples of his art are the portrait of J. L. David (Louvre) and the statue of Marshal Ney in Paris.

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Rude, François

(born Jan. 4, 1784, Dijon, Fr.—died Nov. 3, 1855, Paris) French sculptor. He won the Prix de Rome in 1812 but was prevented from going to Rome by the Napoleonic Wars. His early work was in the Neoclassical tradition, but he was uncomfortable within its restrictions and soon adopted a dynamic, emotional style that might be called Romantic-Realist. An ardent Bonapartist, he is best known for Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (1833–36) on the Arc de Triomphe; popularly called La Marseillaise, it catches the martial spirit of the Napoleonic era.