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Augustin Pajou (19 September 1730 – 8 May 1809) was a French
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
, born in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. At eighteen he won the
Prix de Rome
The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...
, and at thirty exhibited his ''Pluton tenant Cerbère enchaîné'' (now in the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
).
Selected works
Pajou's portrait busts of
Buffon and of
Madame du Barry (1773), and his statuette of
Bossuet Bossuet is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627–1704), French bishop and theologian, uncle of Louis
* Louis Bossuet Louis Bossuet (22 February 1663 – 15 January 1742) was a French parle ...
(all in the Louvre), are amongst his best works.
[
When ]Bernard Poyet
Bernard Poyet (3 May 1742, Dijon - 6 December 1824, Paris was a French architect; best known for his work on the Palais Bourbon.
Biography
He was a student of Charles De Wailly who, in 1766, charged him with supervising the construction of a b ...
constructed the "Fontaine des Innocents
The Fontaine des Innocents is a monumental public fountain located on the place Joachim-du-Bellay in the Les Halles district in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. Originally called the ''Fountain of the Nymphs'', it was constructed be ...
" from the earlier edifice of Pierre Lescot
Pierre Lescot (c. 1515 – 10 September 1578) was a French architect active during the French Renaissance. His most notable works include the Fontaine des Innocents and the Lescot wing of the Louvre in Paris. He played an important role in t ...
, Pajou provided a number of new figures for the work. Mention should also be made of his bust of Carlin Bertinazzi (1763) at the Comédie Française, and the monument to Marie Leszczyńska
Maria Karolina Zofia Felicja Leszczyńska (; ; 23 June 1703 – 24 June 1768), also known as Marie Leczinska, was Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XV from their marriage on 4 September 1725 until her death in 1768. The daughter of Stanis ...
, Queen of France (in the Salon of 1769).[
Pajou was one of the main artists whose work was included in the collection of the ]Comédie-Française
The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...
at the end of the 18th century. Others were Jean-Baptiste d'Huez, Jean-Joseph Foucou
Jean-Joseph Foucou (1739 – 16 February 1821) was a French sculptor.
Foucou was born at Riez, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. A student at the École de peinture et de sculpture of Marseille, he went to Paris, where he entered the workshop of Jean-Ja ...
, Simon-Louis Boizot and Pierre-François Berruer.
Pajou was commissioned by Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
to make the copies of the Medici Lions
The Medici lions are a pair of marble sculptures of lions: one of which is Roman, dating to the 2nd century AD, and the other a 16th-century pendant. Both were by 1598 placed at the Villa Medici, Rome. Since 1789 they have been displayed at th ...
now situated in the garden of the Villa Medici
The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...
1803. Pajou died in Paris on 8 May 1809.[
The ]Courtauld Institute of Art
The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...
(London), the Frick Collection (New York City), Harvard University Art Museums
The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...
(Cambridge, Massachusetts), the Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest ...
(Saint Petersburg, Russia), the Honolulu Museum of Art
The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single co ...
, the J. Paul Getty Museum
The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa.
The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...
(Los Angeles, California), the Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
, Beli Dvor (Belgrade), the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
(New York City), the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...
, Museum of Fine Arts, Lyon, France, Musée des Augustins
The Musée des Augustins de Toulouse is a fine arts museum in Toulouse, France which conserves a collection of sculpture and paintings from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. The paintings are from throughout France, the sculptures represe ...
(Toulouse, France), Musée des Beaux-arts, Nantes, France, Musée National du Château, Pau, France, the National Gallery of Art (Washington D.C.), the National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...
(Canberra) and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium are among the public collections holding sculpture by Augustin Pajou.
Children
*Jacques-Augustin-Catherine Pajou
Jacques-Augustin-Catherine Pajou (27 August 1766, Paris - 28 November 1828, Paris) was a French painter in the Classicism, Classical style.
Biography
His father was the sculptor, Augustin Pajou. Nothing is known of his childhood. In 1784, at ...
(1766–1828), painter
*Catherine Flore Pajou, known as "Tante Cocotte" by her brother. She married the sculptor Claude Michel, but he was far older than she was and marriage proved unhappy, ending in divorce. From Montpellier
Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...
, in his friend Riban's house, where he had gone in year III, Augustin wrote to his son: "This good captive embraces you, unlike the sister whose negligence is not worth this mark of your friendship. I say nothing of the advantages of this article, for a sheaf of paper would not suffice to describe all the complaints we have made against her, and if she has a conscience, she must sense that we have great reason." In 1795 she remarried to Pierre-Louis Martin, known as Saint-Martin who, after several careers, died in Liège as conseiller to the Cour d'Appel. An amateur artist and collector, Saint-Martine produced several paintings of the city of Liège and had his portrait painted by Philippe-Auguste Hennequin.[Number P.47 in Jérémie Benoit's catalogue of that artist's works] Flore divorced her second husband in year 10 and died on 9 December 1841 at 30 rue de l'Odéon
The rue de l'Odéon is a street in the Odéon quarter of the 6th arrondissement of Paris on the Left Bank. Because of the presence of two bohemian bookstores, run respectively by Adrienne Monnier and Sylvia Beach, and the coterie of emergent A ...
in Paris.
References
External links
''Augustin Pajou: Royal Sculptor, 1730–1809 (1997)''
a catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF)
''Europe in the age of enlightenment and revolution''
a catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Pajou (see index)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pajou, Augustin
1730 births
1809 deaths
18th-century French sculptors
French male sculptors
19th-century French sculptors
Prix de Rome for sculpture
Artists from Paris
19th-century French male artists
18th-century French male artists