Jean-Baptiste Pigalle

Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (1714, Paris - 1785, Paris) was a French sculptor. When he was 18, he was apprenticed to the sculptor Robert Le Lorrain and he also studied under JeanBaptiste Lemoyne (1704-1778, appointed sculptor to Louis XV). He studied in Rome from 1736 to 1739. His most celebrated work is the classicizing statue Mercury attaching his wings (1744). In 1744 he became a member of the Académie Royale. In 1752 Pigalle was appointed a professor at this Academy. He enjoyed protection from Madame de Pompadour from 1750 to 1758 and he made the allegorical figure group Love and Friendship for her in1758. He obtained popularity with smaller studies of children in a Rococo style, such as Child with a bird cage (1750, height 47 cm.). Pigalle was a talented portrait sculptor, as is obvious in his Nude Voltaire (1776) and in his bust of Diderot (1777). His tomb of the duc d’Harcourt (1769-1776) and the tomb of the comte de Saxe (1753-1776) are beautiful examples of French sculpture.