Eugène-Émile Hébert

Eugène-Émile Hébert was a respectable 19th-century French sculptor who, for the most part, had a rather conventional career creating public commissions. That is, until he decided to unleash his inner Goth upon the 1859 Paris Salon with "Forever!! Never!!". This sculpture, depicting a skeleton passionately embracing a lovely nude maiden, caused an absolute sensation and even tickled the dark fancy of the critic Charles Baudelaire. Hébert clearly had a taste for the macabre. Whispers from the Parisian salons (of dubious veracity, of course) claimed his models complained of an unnatural chill in his studio, even in July. Another rumor insisted his bronze "Méphistophélès" was modeled on a particularly difficult art dealer. While most of his career was straight-laced, Hébert's morbid masterpiece ensures he is never, ever forgotten.