Sculptor. Born in Paris, the son of a decorative sculptor, he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, in 1824 as a pupil of Charles Dupaty, moving in 1825 to the studio of James Pradier Ingres who also took an interest in his education.  He first exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1833, his work including a reproduction in marble of his “Death of Hyacinthus”, and the plaster cast of his “Cain and his race cursed by God”. Adolphe Thiers, who was at this time minister of public works, now commissioned him to execute the two groups of “Peace” and “War”, flanking the arch on the east facade of the Arc de Triomphe. This last, which established his reputation, he reproduced in marble in the Paris Salon of 1839. Among the best known of his architectural productions is Étex’s tomb of Théodore Géricault in Père Lachaise Cemetery, which includes a bronze figure of the painter, and a low-relief version the painter’s controversial Raft of the Medusa on a front panel. Other works are two large groups, Resistance and Peace, on the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile, Paris; Géricault’s tomb; and the monument to Ingres at Montauban. The last year of his life was spent at Nice, and he died at Chaville, Seine-et-Oise. (bio by: Shock)