Early Life and Family Background Jean-Pierre Dantan, known as Dantan the Younger, was born on December 28, 1800, in Paris, France. He came from a family of sculptors; his father was a wood carver who provided his initial training. Antoine-Laurent Dantan, his elder brother (known as Dantan the Elder), was also a sculptor and entered the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris before Jean-Pierre. Both brothers studied under François-Joseph Bosio at the prestigious art school, beginning their formal artistic education in 1823. A later generation saw his nephew, Édouard Joseph D…