Cavelier, the son of a draughtsman, entered the studio of David d'Angers, won the Grand Prix de Rome and taught a whole generation of statuaries at the Beaux-Arts. He left monumental statues, a Truth, a Penelope. His monument is signed by another sculptor, Léon Fagel. The names recorded there are not his, but those of two women who died thirty years before him.
The story
The sculptor Pierre Jules Cavelier lies beneath another man's work: the monument in Division 8 is signed Léon Fagel. The case repeats itself at Père-Lachaise, where more than one statuary left his own tomb to a colleague.
Born in Paris on 30 August 1814, the son of the draughtsman Adrien Louis Marie Cavelier, he entered the studio of Pierre-Jean David d'Angers, the most sought-after funerary sculptor of the century. He won the grand prix de Rome for sculpture, the obligatory step in any official career, then became a professor at the Beaux-Arts and trained a generation of sculptors in his turn. Among his monumental statues are Truth and Penelope.
He died on 28 January 1894, at seventy-nine. The stone does not name him: it carries Marie Adélaïde Bellet, who died in 1867, and Marie Louise Cavelier, who died on 8 February 1865 — two women gone nearly thirty years before him.
The grave
A grave adorned with a sculpture by Léon Fagel — a sculptor resting beneath the work of another, a case that recurs at Père-Lachaise. The inscriptions recorded do not name Cavelier but two women who died well before him: “Ici reposent Marie Adélaïde BELLET née BONHOMME décédée 1867. Marie Louise CAVELIER décédée le 8 février 1865.” — here rest Marie Adélaïde Bellet, née Bonhomme, died 1867, and Marie Louise Cavelier, died 8 February 1865. The Grand Prix de Rome winner, professor at the Beaux-Arts and author of La Vérité, who died in 1894, does not appear.
On site, do not miss
The sculpture is by Léon Fagel, not by Cavelier. The inscriptions recorded do not name him: they bear two women who died in 1865 and 1867.
Visitors' questions
Where is Pierre Jules Cavelier's grave?
In Division 8, chemin Chénier, first row, under a sculpture by Léon Fagel. The recorded inscriptions do not name him: they carry two women who died before him, in 1865 and 1867. He died in 1894, at seventy-nine.
Georges CuvierWho trained Cavelier?
Pierre-Jean David d'Angers, the most sought-after funerary sculptor of the century — the man behind General Gobert's monument and so many others at Père-Lachaise. Cavelier went on to win the Prix de Rome. David d'Angers lies at Père-Lachaise himself, in Division 39.
General GobertWhat did he sculpt?
Monumental statues, among them Truth and Penelope. He was also a professor at the Beaux-Arts, training in his turn a generation of sculptors — as his own master had done for him.
Pierre CartellierA sculptor under another man's sculpture?
Yes: the monument is by Léon Fagel. The case repeats itself at Père-Lachaise — Adolphe Eude lies under a work by Pécou, Cartellier under a work by his son-in-law Petitot.
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