Susan Durant
Born 8 July 1827
Died 1 January 1873
Active: 1851 - 1871
Country of birth: England
Country of death: France
Sculptor, medallist
Born in Stamford Hill, London. She was the daughter of George Durant (c.1785-1872, born in Exeter, Devon), a silk broker who had made his fortune prior to 1851. Susan became the pupil of the French sculptor, Baron Henri Joseph François de Triqueti (1807-74) in Paris. She later divided her time between Paris and London. Her more important commissions included one of seventeen statues ('The Faithful Shepherdess') for the Egyptian Hall at the Mansion House in 1861 and twelve medallion portraits of members of the royal family for the Albert Chapel at Windsor (a commission given to her by Henri de Triqueti). This latter project established a close relationship with the royal family and Durant later gave lessons in modelling to the Princess Louise.
In 1869 Durant secretly gave birth to a son by Triqueti called Henry Paul Harvey. She died at the Hotel de l'Athenée in the Rue Scribe, Paris. The immediate cause was identified by her cousin, Elizabeth, as pleurisy. However, this was exacerbated by an underlying illness for which she had received surgery several months earlier. Durant was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery. Triqueti was one of the executors of the will together with a representative of the Deutsche Belgische La Plata Bank in Cologne.
This entry includes information supplied by Shannon Hunter Hurtado.
Wealth at death: £8,000 0s. 0d.
Effects under £8,000
Probate date: 30 January 1873
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Medallion of Matthew Begbie, Esq.
Thetis Dipping the Infant Achilles in the Styx
Thetis Receiving from Vulcan the Arms of Achilles
Thetis Rising from the Sea to Perform the Funeral Rites of Achilles
Belisarius
1851
Locations
Address 14 Conduit Street West London | View on map
1849 (Circa) - 1870 (Circa)
Address 3 Bryanston Place London | View on map
1871 (Circa) - 1873
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The International Exhibition, London, 1862
'Thetis Dipping the Infant Achilles in the Styx '
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Fourth, 1852
'Medallion of Matthew Begbie, Esq.'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1847 - 1873
Exhibited 20 times (16 times from 1851), 38 works in all (mostly portraits and medallions)
Exhibited at Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations (London), 1851
1851
Descriptions of Practice
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
'Artist Sculptor'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871
'Sculptor'
Sources
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851
2009
pp. 385-8
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
2004
Class: RG9; Piece: 7; Folio: 94; Page: 15; GSU roll: 542555
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871
2004
RG10 piece 167 folio 70 page 19
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Susan Durant Durant
Probate Date: 30 Jan 1873
Death Date: 1 Jan 1873
Death Place: Middlesex, England
Registry: Principal Registry
International exhibition 1862, official catalogue, fine art department
1862
London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906
2010
Name: Susan Durant Durant
Record Type: Baptism
Estimated Birth Date: abt 1827
Baptism Date: 1 Aug 1827
Father's Name: George Durant
Mother's Name: Mary Durant
Parish or Poor Law Union: Tottenham
Borough: Haringey
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Andrea Garrihy, Durant, 'Susan Durant (1827-1873)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/59114, accessed 16 Jan 2009]
The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Fourth, 1852
1852
Citing this record
'Susan Durant', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib7_1206632322, accessed 17 May 2022]