Pierre Bontemps (c. 1505–1568) was a French sculptor known for his funeral monuments; he was, with Germain Pilon, one of the pre-eminent sculptors of the

French Renaissance The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define th ...

. He executed most of the bas-reliefs on the tomb of King

Francis I of France Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin on ...

, representing the French victories at the

battle of Marignano The Battle of Marignano was the last major engagement of the War of the League of Cambrai and took place on 13–14 September 1515, near the town now called Melegnano, 16 km southeast of Milan. It pitted the French army, composed of the b ...

and the battle of Ceresole. His also are the statues of the king,

Queen Claude Claude of France (13 October 1499 – 20 July 1524) was Queen of France by marriage to King Francis I. She was also ruling Duchess of Brittany from 1514 until her death in 1524. She was a daughter of King Louis XII of France and his second wif ...

, the Dauphin, and

Louis XII Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his 2nd cousin once removed and brother in law at the tim ...

and Anne of Brittany on Louis' tomb in the

Basilica of Saint-Denis The Basilica of Saint-Denis (french: Basilique royale de Saint-Denis, links=no, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building ...

. The figures from the tomb of Charles de Maigny (c. 1556) now reside in the

Musée du 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 ...

. In 1936, a sale of contents from the chateau of Monchy-Humières included a full-length marble tomb which had been used as a garden ornament. Originally thought to be of Louis, duc d'Humières (1628–1694), it was in fact Jean III d'Humières (died 1553), executed by Bontemps. This is also in the Louvre.

References

1500s births 1568 deaths 16th-century French sculptors French male sculptors {{France-sculptor-stub