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

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 26 May 2018]