Jean-Baptiste Pigalle belongs to the record of art as a figure whose work outlasted the taste that first received it.
The record lists Jean-Baptiste Pigalle as French sculptor (1714-1785).
Jean-Baptiste Pigalle was born at Rueil-Malmaison in 1714. His recorded nationality is France.
Academies set the rules in this period - what counted as a serious subject, and who was allowed to train.
He worked as sculptor.
His recorded movement is baroque and neoclassicism.
Among his best-known works are Voltaire Naked and Mercury. Art history is a record of what got kept, which is not the same as what was best.
Recognition followed: Knight of the Order of Saint Michael.
That the work was made in France shaped it: artistic traditions, academies and the galleries that decide what is seen have never been evenly distributed.
Jean-Baptiste Pigalle died in 1785, aged 71. The work remains, hanging in collections that outlived both the artist and the market that first priced it.
Achievements
- Knight of the Order of Saint Michael
- Notable work: Voltaire Naked
- Notable work: Mercury
- Movement: Baroque and Neoclassicism
