Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (May 11, 1827 - October 12, 1875) was a French sculptor and painter.
Born in Valenciennes, Nord, son of a mason, his early studies were under François Rude.

Carpeaux entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1844 and won the Prix de Rome in 1854, and moving to Rome to find inspiration, he there studied the works of Michelangelo, Donatello and Verrocchio.

Staying in Rome from 1854 to 1861, he obtained a taste for movement and spontaneity, which he joined with the great principles of baroque art. Carpeaux sought real life subjects in the streets and broke with the classical tradition.

While a student in Rome, Carpeaux submitted a plaster version of Pêcheur Napolitain à la Coquille, the Neapoli...