François Pompon was born in 1855 in Saulieu into a family of artisans where working with materials shaped everyday life. His father was a blacksmith and his mother a seamstress. This early proximity to metal and textile gave him a natural sense of form, volume and precise gesture. He trained as an apprentice stonecutter in Dijon, then entered the École nationale des Beaux Arts where he refined his drawing and modelling. This solid foundation opened the doors of the Parisian s

At ARS ESSENTIA, our contemporary art gallery dedicated to the presentation and sale of sculpture, we showcase works created using a wide variety of techniques: direct carving in wood or stone, clay modelling for ceramics, and ironwork for ferrous metals. Yet it is bronze sculpture that sparks the most curiosity. Its presence, its density, its unique patina captivate our visitors. This is why we offer a complete introduction to the lost‑wax casting technique, an ancestral pro

Igor Mitoraj is a world‑renowned Franco‑Polish artist. Born in 1944, he died in 2014 in Paris. A resolutely postmodern artist, he seeks in ancient statuary a balance of forms that transcends the centuries.

The history of animal sculpture is a fascinating journey that begins in prehistoric times. The earliest known works date back to the Magdalenian period, around 15,000 years ago. The humans of that time carved animals from mammoth ivory and bone. For example, the famous "small horse of Lourdes," found in the Espélugues cave in Lourdes, is a figure carved from mammoth ivory.