Nicolas Coustou

Nicolas Coustou studied at Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. Training under Antoine Coysevox is recorded. The recorded working language is French. Michelangelo is recorded as an influence. Places of work recorded in the authority are Rome, Paris and Lyon. Works named in the authority record are Apollo Chasing Daphne, Daphne Chased by Apollo and Julius Caesar. Work by Nicolas Coustou is recorded in the collections of Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Musée de l'Histoire de France and Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. Distinctions recorded are Prix de Rome for sculpture.

• Name — Nicolas Coustou • Born — 9 January 1658 • Birthplace — Lyon • Died — 1 May 1733 • Place of death — Paris • Known for — sculpture • Training — C. A. Coysevox, Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, Académie de France à Rome • Movement — Late French Baroque • Notable Works — La Seine at la Marne, Berger Chasseur, Descent from the Cross, Julius Caesar • Awards — Prix de Rome

Born in Lyon, Coustou was the son of a woodcarver, François Coustou, who gave him his first instruction in art, and Claudine Coysevox. When he was eighteen years old, in 1676, he moved to Paris, to study under C. Antoine Coysevox, his maternal uncle, who presided over the recently established Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. At the age of twenty-three, Coustou won the Colbert prize (the Prix de Rome), which entitled him to four years of education at the French Academy at Rome. He subsequently became rector and chancellor of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture. From 1700, he worked with Coysevox at the palaces of Marly and Versailles. • Illustration — La Seine at la Marne • Illustration — Descent from the Cross He was remarkable for his facility. Influenced by Michelangelo and Algardi, he tried to combine the best characteristics of each. A number of his works were destroyed during the French Revolution; the most famous of those that remain are "La Seine at la Marne", the "Berger Chasseur", and "Daphne Pursued by Apollo" in the gardens of the Tuileries, the bas-relief "Le Passage du Rhin" in the Louvre, the statues of Julius Caesar and Louis XV in the Louvre, and the "Descent from the Cross" behind the choir altar of the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. His sculpture of Apollo pursuing Daphne is one of a pair bearing the single title that was created with his younger brother, who is ascribed as the sculptor of Daphne. Both have been in the Louvre since 1940 and were restored between 2004 and 2006. Regularly, he worked closely with his brother, Guillaume Coustou, also a renowned sculptor and director of the academy. Because of their collaborations, it is not always possible to ascribe a particular work to one or the other, thus one may find a single sculpture ascribed to each of them. His brother's son, Guillaume Coustou the Younger, also was a sculptor. Nicolas Coustou died in Paris in 1733 at the age of 75.

The authorities additionally record the heading Coustou. His recorded language was French. He was the child of François Coustou and Claudine Coysevox. Other recorded relations include Guillaume Coustou the Younger and Charles-Pierre Coustou.