Robert Le Lorrain (1666–1743) was a French baroque sculptor who was born in Paris. He was born into a family of bureaucrats, the son of Claude Le Lorrain, a business agent of

Nicolas Fouquet Nicolas Fouquet, marquis de Belle-Île, vicomte de Melun et Vaux (27 January 1615 – 23 March 1680) was the Superintendent of Finances in France from 1653 until 1661 under King Louis XIV. He had a glittering career, and acquired enormous wealth ...

, Louis XIV's Minister of Finance. Le Lorrain was a student of the French sculptor, painter, and architect, Pierre Paul Puget (1620-1694). At age eighteen, Le Lorrain entered François Girardon's studio; aside from collaborating with him, he was commissioned to instruct Girardon's children in drawing and to supervise his other pupils. Le Lorrain 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 ...

in 1689, On his return to Paris he first joined the

Académie de Saint-Luc The Académie de Saint-Luc was the guild of painters and sculptors set up in Paris in 1391, and dissolved in 1776.Alfred Fierro (1996). ''Histoire et Dictionnaire de Paris''. Paris: Robert Laffont. It was set up by the Provost of Paris in 1391, a ...

, and then was received into the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris) in 1701; he became Rector of the Académie in 1737. His major non-royal clients were members of the house of Rohan. His students included

Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne (15 February 1704 – 1778) was a French sculptor of the 18th century who worked in both the rococo and neoclassical style. He made monumental statuary for the Gardens of Versailles but was best known for his expressive p ...

(1704-1778) and

Jean-Baptiste Pigalle Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (26 January 1714 – 20 August 1785) was a French sculptor. Life Pigalle was born in Paris, the seventh child of a carpenter. Although he failed to obtain the ''Prix de Rome'', after a severe struggle he entered the ''Ac ...

(1714-1785). Robert Le Lorrain died in Paris in 1743. Disappointingly few works by this highly accomplished master have survived. His best-known work is the stone relief, ''The Horses of the Sun'', over the stable doors at the

Hôtel de Rohan The Archives nationales (, "National Archives" in English; abbreviated AN) are the national archives of France. They preserve the archives of the French state, apart from the archives of the Ministry of Armed Forces and Ministry of Foreign Aff ...

, Paris; sculptures executed in 1718-21 for the Cardinal de Rohan at the Château de Saverne were lost in the fire in the château in 1779, but sculptures for the

palais Rohan, Strasbourg The Palais Rohan (Rohan Palace) in Strasbourg is the former residence of the prince-bishops and cardinals of the House of Rohan, an ancient French noble family originally from Brittany. It is a major architectural, historical, and cultural la ...

, survive. Though Le Lorrain's works for Marly have been dispersed or lost, as have church monuments in Paris and Orléans, sculpture in the chapel at

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

survives.Beaulieu 1982 contains a catalogue of existing and lost works. 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

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), the

Liechtenstein Museum The Liechtenstein Museum is a private art museum in Vienna, Austria. It contains much of the art collection of its owners, the Princely Family of Liechtenstein, rulers of the principality of Liechtenstein. It includes important European works of ar ...

(Vienna), 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 ...

, and the National Gallery of Art (Washington D.C.), and are among the public collections holding sculpture by Robert Le Lorrain. He is known to have been a prolific draughtsman: no drawings securely attributed to him survive.

References

* Beaulieu, Michèle, ''Robert Le Lorrain (1666-1743)'', (Neuilly-sur-Seine: Arthena), 1982. The first monograph devoted to the sculptor. * Souchal, François, ''French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th Centuries. The Reign of Louis XIV.'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 1981. Vol. II. G-L, ''s.v.'' "Robert Le Lorrain"

External links

ArtCyclopedia

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Lorrain, Robert 1666 births 1743 deaths 17th-century French sculptors French male sculptors 18th-century French sculptors French Baroque sculptors 18th-century French male artists