Guillaume Coustou the Younger (19 March 1716 – 13 July 1777) was a French sculptor of the late French Baroque or Style Louis XIV, and early neo-classicism.

Life and career

The son of Guillaume Coustou the Elder and nephew of Nicolas Coustou, he trained in the family atelier and studied at the French Academy in Rome, 1736–39, as winner of the Prix de Rome (1735). He returned to Paris, where he completed the famous "Horse Tamers" (''Chevaux de Marly'') commissioned from his father in 1739 for Marly, when the elder Coustou was too infirm to actively carry out the commissions. They were completed and installed in 1745. He was accepted at the

Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (; en, "Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture") was founded in 1648 in Paris, France. It was the premier art institution of France during the latter part of the Ancien Régime until it was abol ...

(1742) and pursued a successful official career, working fluently in styles that ranged from the Late Baroque of his ''morceau de réception,'' a ''Seated Vulcan'' (''illustrated'') to the sentimental early

neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...

of the ''Ganymede'', whose affinities with Roman sculptures of

Antinous Antinous, also called Antinoös, (; grc-gre, Ἀντίνοος; 27 November – before 30 October 130) was a Greek youth from Bithynia and a favourite and probable lover of the Roman emperor Hadrian. Following his premature death before his ...

have been suggested by Michael Worley. He produced portrait busts as well as his religious and mythological subjects. His most prominent and ambitious official commission was the ''Monument to the Dauphin'' for the

cathedral of Sens Sens Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Sens) is a Catholic cathedral in Sens in Burgundy, eastern France. The cathedral, dedicated to Saint Stephen, is the seat of the Archbishop of Sens. Sens was the first cathedral to be built ...

. The elaborate iconography of its somewhat overcharged design was worked up by the artist and connoisseur Charles-Nicolas Cochin. His pupils included two minor neoclassical sculptors,

Claude Dejoux Claude Dejoux (23 January 1732 – 18 October 1816) was a French sculptor. Early years Claude Dejoux was born on 23 January 1732 in Vadans, Jura. Descended from the Counts of Joux, Claude Dejoux was born into a family of poor farmers. He start ...

and

Pierre Julien Pierre Julien (20 June 1731 – 17 December 1804) was a French sculptor who worked in a full range of rococo and neoclassical styles. He served an early apprenticeship at Le Puy-en-Velay, near his natal village of Saint-Paulien, then at the Écol ...

, who were fellow pupils in the 1760s and went on to collaborate on sculptural projects and the young Danish sculptor, Johannes Widewelt, who was placed in his workshop through the offices of the secretary of the Danish legation. In the process, Widewelt picked up some of Coustou's clarity and his language of rhetorical gesture.Else Marie Bukdahl, "Wiedewelt, der Neuklassizismus und die Frühromantik" ''Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte'' 54.3 (1991, pp. 388-405) p 389.

Works

* ''Apotheosis of St Francis Xavier'' (marble, c. 1743) Bordeaux, Church of St Paul) * ''Marguerite Le Comte'' (bronze, c. 1750), The Victoria and Albert Museum, London *''Apollo'' (marble, 1753) commissioned by Mme de Pompadour for the park at the château de Bellevue (at Versailles) *''Mars'' and ''Venus'' (marble, 1769) for

Frederick II of Prussia Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...

at Schloss Sanssouci, Potsdam * Pediment sculptures, (limestone, 1753 onwards) executed with Michelange Slodtz for Ange-Jacques Gabriel’s twin ''hôtels'' (from 1753) on the Place de la Concorde * ''Ganymede'' (marble, ''ca'' 1760 ( Victoria and Albert Museum) *Funeral ''Monument to the Dauphin'', (free-standing marble and bronze, 1766–77), Sens Cathedral

Notes

References

*Souchal, François, ''French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th Centuries''

External links

Short biography
at artnet, from ''The Grove Dictionary of Art'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coustou, Guillaume The Younger 18th-century French sculptors French male sculptors 1716 births 1777 deaths Artists from Paris 18th-century French male artists