There weren’t any Marvel comics back in his days, but if there were, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux’s favorite superhero would be Michelangelo.

Early in his career, the young French artist attempted to emulate the favorite of the Vatican. Carpeaux was about three centuries short of meeting his hero in person, but that didn't stop him from producing copies of the master’s work and exploring his home country. For close to a decade, Carpeaux’s art career included traveling between Paris and Rome to woo art world patrons and work on future projects.

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux gained a reputation for himself as the bad boy of the French art scene, rejecting overdone academic themes and acting as a cheerleader for realism. By nineteen years old, the Prix de Rome expelled Carpeaux over a cheating scandal. But scandal isn’t enough to stop a genius from working. 

Knowing people in high places can open doors for you but knowing the reigning emperor of France can blast them wide open. This happens to be the case for Carpeaux, who soon became Napoleon III’s official sculptor. Let us thank Mathilde, Napoleon’s younger cousin, for the introduction. Perhaps the bust Carpeaux created of her was so flattering it compelled her to pull those strings. She would also go on to introduce Carpeaux to the number one family you want on your side if you are an artist: the Medici. This introduction led to Carpeaux having sleepovers in the Medici villa while he worked on Ugolino and His Sons. Carpeaux and the Medici must have hit it off, because soon after they brought Carpeaux on board as their go-to artist. 

Carpeaux create a bust of French writer Alexander Dumas, who he met when Dumas visited the Medici Villa in 1861. The pair became so close that Dumas stood as a witness at Carpeaux’s marriage to Amelie de Monfort. When tensions grew between Carpeaux and his wife, it was Dumas’ wife Nadine who stepped in to calm things down. 

Despite being surrounded by fabulous celebrities, there’s no way Carpeaux would forget about his roots. It’s said the French artist continued to speak and act in a working-class manner. Carpeaux also often mixed family and art. He created statuettes of Amelie breastfeeding their children, and gifted a terracotta bust of his favorite brother, the violinist Charles, to their father after Charles' death. Carpeaux himself died at the ripe age of forty-eight, from bladder cancer.