Tony Noël shared the first Prix de Rome in 1868 with Antonin Mercié, the jury having been unable to choose between them: a rare case. Trained by Guillaume, Lequesne and Cavelier, he exhibited at the Salon for twenty years before moving to that of the Société nationale. In 1876 he worked on redoing the decoration of a façade of the Louvre, five years after the burning of the Tuileries. Two words alone name him.
The story
The first Prix de Rome of 1868 went to two sculptors at once: Tony Noël, for his Theseus Victorious over the Minotaur, and Antonin Mercié. The case is a rare one — the jury had been unable to choose.
Born in Paris on 24 July 1845, Edme Anthony Paul Noël had trained at the École des Beaux-Arts under Eugène Guillaume, Eugène-Louis Lequesne and Jules Cavelier. He made his début at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1872, left it in 1891 for that of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and exhibited there until 1901.
In 1876, five years after the burning of the Tuileries, he took part in recasting the decoration of the north façade of the Louvre — a rebuilding as symbolic as it was architectural. He left many public monuments and died at Villebon-sur-Yvette on 3 October 1909.
On the stone in Division 35, two words: “Tony NOEL.” No dates, no trade, no title. The bronze bust by Paul Gasq that surmounts it says all the rest.
The grave
A bronze bust by the sculptor Paul Gasq (1860-1944), above one of the most laconic inscriptions in the cemetery: “Tony NOEL”. Two words, no dates, no trade, no title. Nothing of the first Prix de Rome of 1868 shared with Antonin Mercié, nothing of the north façade of the Louvre redone in 1876, nothing of the public monuments that earned him his reputation. The bust says everything, the stone almost nothing.
On site, do not miss
A bronze bust signed Paul Gasq, above a two-word epitaph: “Tony NOEL.” No dates, no Prix de Rome, no Louvre.
Visitors' questions
Where is Tony Noël's grave?
In Division 35, Avenue Transversale No. 2, first row, beneath a bronze bust by Paul Gasq. The epitaph is one of the shortest in the cemetery: two words, “Tony NOEL”, with no dates, no trade and no title of any kind.
Eugène ScribeDid he share his Prix de Rome?
He did, with Antonin Mercié, in 1868, for Thésée vainqueur du Minotaure, Theseus vanquishing the Minotaur — a rare case of a first prize awarded jointly. He was a pupil of Eugène Guillaume, Eugène-Louis Lequesne and Jules Cavelier at the Beaux-Arts.
Charles DegeorgeWhat did he do at the Louvre?
In 1876 he worked on the recasting of the decoration of the north front of the palace, after the burning of the Tuileries in 1871: a rebuilding as symbolic as it was architectural, five years on from the fire.
James PradierWhere did he exhibit?
At the Salon des artistes français from 1872, then, from 1891, at the Salon of the Société nationale des beaux-arts, where he showed until 1901 — a change of allegiance common among sculptors of his generation.
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