Francis Renaud (1887 - 1973)

Born in St Brieuc, after attending the town's municipal drawing classes, Francis Renaud entered the Rennes School of Fine Arts, where he attended the Ronsin and Laffont studios. In 1908, he entered the National School of Fine Arts in the workshops of Merson, Cormon and Injalbert. In 1913, he abandoned painting in favour of sculpture. In 1908, he participated in the Salon des Artistes Français by exhibiting a still life, and five years later it was with a sculpture that he returned to the same salon.

He was mobilised during the First World War and was seriously wounded in 1915. It is probably for this reason that he offered to create war memorials, and in 1919 he received his first commissions for the monuments of Ploufragan and Tréguier. Those of Saint-Brieuc followed, of course, but also Etables, Plouec-sur-lie, Trévé and Plussulien. Francis Renaud won a bronze medal at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1921, and from then on he frequently took part in national exhibitions.

His collaboration with the Manufacture Henriot began during the preparation of the 1925 Decorative Arts exhibition, at which he presented a terracotta head. His collaboration with Henriot lasted only a few years, the artist not being very satisfied with the quality of the pieces produced. A few years later, he turned to the Manufacture HB to have his mourners for the Tréguier war memorial published.