Mathurin Moreau was born in 1822 in Dijon into a family of a well-known sculptor and craftsman Jean-Baptiste Moreau who became his son’s first mentor. Subsequently Mathurin Moreau worked in the traditional academic style and was very prolific as a sculptor. He had to his name religious and decorative statues, tombstones, fountains, indoor bronze figurines and quite a few public monuments. Moreau is most famous for his decorative statues which can be found today in Paris, Buenos-Aires, Geneva and Lisbon.
In 1841 Moreau entered École des Beaux Arts in Paris and soon left for Italy to continue his education and study ancient Greek and Roman heritage that was to influence his own style and range of interests. His brothers, Hippolyte and Auguste, too, followed in their father’s steps and founded one of the best-known French art studios, that of the Moreau brothers (L& F Moreau).
