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BEST WORKS OF SCULPTURE
For a list of the world's top 100
3-D artworks, by the best sculptors
in the history of art, see:
Greatest Sculptures Ever.
BEST SCULPTORS
For a list of the world's most
talented 3-D artists, see:
Greatest Sculptors.
EVOLUTION OF SCULPTURE
For details of the origins and
development of the plastic arts
see: History of Sculpture.
SCULPTING MEDIA
For different types of carving,
and modelling, see:
Stone Sculpture
From igneous, sedimentary,
and metamorphic rocks.
Marble Sculpture
Pentelic, Carrara, Parian marbles.
Wood Carving
Chip carving, relief carving of
softwoods and hardwoods.
Bronze Sculpture
Lost-wax casting method,
sandcasting, centrifugal casting.
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Pigalle's Statue of Mercury
Returning to Paris in 1741, after a sojourn
in Lyon, Pigalle set about being "approved" by the French Academy
of Painting and Sculpture. Accordingly he presented a terracotta model
of Mercury attaching His Talaria (Winged Sandals) (1740, Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York) for approval. Possibly inspired by an engraving
of Mercury and Argus, a picture by the 17th-century Flemish artist
Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678), Pigalle's work had such vitality and dynamic
potential that the crouching figure became an allegory of speed. In response,
the Academy requested him to transpose the work into marble for his admission
piece, which he duly did - Mercury attaching His Talaria (Winged
Sandals) (1741-2, Louvre) - and in July 1744 he was accepted as a full
member of the Academy. The work itself was an instant success. Voltaire
compared it to the finest Greek statues; artists included its image in
a number of paintings; while in 1770 a small-scale porcelain version was
manufactured by the Sevres Porcelain Factory.
Pigalle's original Mercury was
an isolated figure, but in 1742, he added a matching piece: Venus
Giving a Message, illustrating a mythological story by the classical
Roman writer Apuleius (c.125–170 CE). In 1746, he was commissioned
by the King to carve a life-size marble statue of each figure; these
works were completed in 1748, whereupon they were presented by Louis
XV to King Frederick II of Prussia for the Sans-Souci castle near Berlin.
As well as Louis XV, Pigalle also received
commissions from Madame de Pompadour. In return, Pigalle depicted
her in the allegorical statue of Friendship (1753, Louvre). His
other aristocratic contacts secured him numerous commissions, including
the Tomb of Marshal d'Harcourt (c.1764, Notre Dame de Paris), and
the Mausoleum of Maurice of Saxony (1777, St Thomas Lutheran church,
Strasbourg).
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