Marc Arcis

Marc Arcis (1655 – 26 October 1739) was a French sculptor. Born in the countryside around Toulouse, Arcis was trained in the city and very early on produced busts for the Hall of the Illustrious between 1674 and 1677. In Paris, he took part in the interior decoration of the église de la Sorbonne and produced works for Versailles. After 1690, he based himself in Toulouse, decorating several chapels and the churches of Saint-Sernin and Saint-Étienne there.

Arcis was particularly skilled in clay and stucco. This made his works much cheaper as stucco, when varnished in a certain way, looked similar to marble but at a fraction of the cost. This allowed him to attain many contacts, particularly with churches. Arcis also had a talent for drawing that allowed him to excel in the magnitude of objects, and he went on to produce many alter pieces for high alters.

Little is known of Arcis' childhood or how he managed to study sculpting in Toulouse. However, it seems he processed a precocious sense of talent that was noticed by the Foucaud family who owned a private mansion in the city. They arranged for Arcis to be brought from the countryside and recommended him to local artists they knew.

When Arcis was 23-years old in 1674, he began his first major project when he was commissioned to create a series of thirty terracotta busts of famous people from Toulouse to decorate the Salle des Illustres (Hall of the Illustrious) when work was being done on the town hall at the Capitole de Toulouse. This included a bust of King Louis XIV. Arcis completed the project in 1677. The busts were arranged on three walls in the room, placed in gilded niches. Arcis also produced other elements of the room, such as a stucco and stone bas-relief to accompany the portrait of Louis XIV.

In Paris Sculpture of Apollo at the Palace of Versailles, made from marble in 1688 by Arcis and Simon Mazière. After completing the series of busts, Arcis decided to relocate to Paris in 1677 given the opportunities presented by the construction of the Palace of Versailles. Initially, for several years, he worked for private individuals. Although in Arcis' career he mainly sculpted with clay, plaster or stucco, he used marble again in 1712 when he worked on the marble mausoleum of Hector de Gélas de Voisins, Marquis of Ambres, by creating a life-size sculpture of Hector kneeling on a prie-dieu.

Sculptures