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Pierre Lepautre (sculptor)
French sculptor (1659-1744) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pierre Lepautre (4 March 1659 – 22 January 1744)[1] was a French sculptor, a member[2] of a prolific family of artists in many media, who were active in the 17th and 18th centuries. He was born and died in Paris.
Pierre Lepautre | |
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![]() A portrait of Pierre Lepautre, painted by Nicolas de Largillière in 1689. | |
Born | (1659-03-04)March 4, 1659 |
Died | January 22, 1744(1744-01-22) (aged 84) |
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He won the Prix de Rome, for study at the French Academy in Rome, where he was a pensionnaire' from 1683 to 1701. While in Rome he sent back to France a number of sculptures demonstrating his skill, among which were the Faune au chevreau of 1685, which went to ornament the gardens at Château de Marly.[3] Lepautre returned to Paris in 1701. His Atalante (1704) was also destined for Marly. From 1705 to 1710, he was occupied with decorative bas-reliefs and sculptures for the royal chapel of Versailles, under the artistic supervision of Jules Hardouin-Mansart: his are the colossal statues of Saint Ambrose and Saint Gregory.[4]
A retable in the form of a monumental gateway in the église de Saint-Eustache, Paris, illustrates the assumption of Saint Agnes.
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His completion of the over-lifesize group of Arria et Pœtus (finished 1695) after the design begun by Jean-Baptiste Théodon proceeded too slowly[5] and Énée portant son père Anchise suivi d'Ascagne (signed and dated 1716), after François Girardon[6] demonstrated his facility and fidelity as an executant. The sculpture of Aeneas carrying Anchises was begun in Rome, where Lepautre made numerous terracotta bozzetti for it.[7] The sculpture gained renown for Lepautre: bronze reductions of it were made for collectors.[8] The 19th-century classicizing sculptor David d'Angers had one of Lepautre's designs for it, which was given by his widow to the museum in his native city.[9]
Pierre Lepautre preferred to become a member of the modest artists' Académie de Saint-Luc, for which he held a lifetime post as Rector, rather than try for the more prestigious Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture.