Jean-Baptiste Pigalle

Nicolas-François Dupré, Jean Guillaume Moitte and Louis-Philippe Mouchy are recorded as having studied under Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. The recorded working language is French. The field of work recorded is art of sculpture. Places of work recorded in the authority are Paris. Works named in the authority record are Voltaire Naked and Mercury. Work by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle is recorded in the collections of National Gallery of Victoria, Nationalmuseum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Israel Museum and Bode Museum. Distinctions recorded are Knight of the Order of Saint Michael.

• Name — Jean-Baptiste Pigalle • Born — 26 January 1714 • Birthplace — Rueil-Malmaison, France • Died — 20 August 1785 • Place of death — Paris, France • Field — Sculpture • Movement — Baroque, Neo-classicism

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. Pigalle taught the sculptor Louis-Philippe Mouchy, who married his niece, and who closely copied Pigalle's style. He is also said to have taught the painter Madeleine-Élisabeth Pigalle, believed to be a distant relative from Sens. 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.

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

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

Jean-Baptiste Pigalle is recorded as sculptor.