Jean-Baptiste Pigalle

Template:Short description Template:Infobox artist Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (Template:IPA; 26 January 1714 – 20 August 1785<ref name="collier">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>) was a French sculptor whose work was influenced by both baroque and neo-classical trends.

Life

Pigalle was born in Paris, the seventh child of a carpenter. Although he failed to obtain the Prix de Rome, after a severe struggle he entered the Académie Royale and became one of the most popular sculptors of his day. His earlier work, such as Child with Cage (model at Sèvres) and Mercury Fastening his Sandals (Berlin, and lead cast in Louvre), is less commonplace than that of his more mature years, but his nude statue of Voltaire, dated 1776 (initially in the Institut de France, purchased by the Louvre in 1962), and his tombs of Comte d'Harcourt (c. 1764) (Notre-Dame de Paris) and of Marshal Saxe, completed in 1777 (Saint-Thomas Lutheran church, Strasbourg), are good examples of French sculpture in the 18th century.<ref>{{#if: |

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Pigalle taught the sculptor Louis-Philippe Mouchy, who married his niece, and who closely copied Pigalle's style.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He is also said to have taught the painter Madeleine-Élisabeth Pigalle, believed to be a distant relative from Sens.<ref>Profile of Madeleine-Élisabeth Pigalle at the Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800.</ref> His name is most commonly known today because of the Pigalle red-light district in Paris, located around the square of the same name, Place Pigalle.

Pigalle died in Paris on 20 August 1785.

Monumental works

• Mercury putting on his running shoes (Louvre) (1753)
  Mercury putting on his running shoes (Louvre) (1753)
• Chapel of the Virgin, Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris
  Chapel of the Virgin, Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris
• Voltaire nude (The Louvre, 1777)
  Voltaire nude (The Louvre, 1777)
• Funerary monument of Maurice de Saxe in Saint Thomas Church, Strasbourg
  Funerary monument of Maurice de Saxe in Saint Thomas Church, Strasbourg

Busts

• Portrait of Voltaire (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
  Portrait of Voltaire (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
• Madame de Pompadour, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1748–51)
  Madame de Pompadour, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1748–51)
• Self-portrait (1770s, Louvre)
  Self-portrait (1770s, Louvre)

External links

• Template:Commons category-inline
• Virtual Gallery
• Template:FrenchSculptureCensus