François Gaspard Adam (23 May 1710 – 18 August 1761) was a French

rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

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 ...

. A member of the Adam family of painters, François was born at Nancy, and studied under his father, Jacob-Sigisbert. He later followed his two brothers to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1730, before moving to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In 1740, he took second in 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 ...

competition, but later won the contest and returned to Rome in 1742 to study at the Académie de France's campus there. From 1747 to 1760, Adam was the principal sculptor of

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. Most of his work decorates the grounds at Frederick's

Sanssouci Palace Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

. He died in

Life and work

François Gaspard Adam, who came from a family of sculptors, was born in 1710 as the youngest son of the French sculptor Jacob-Sigisbert Adam and his wife Sébastienne Le Léal in the parish of Saint-Sébastien in Nancy. He received his artistic training in his father's workshop until 1729. For further education he followed his brothers

Lambert-Sigisbert Adam Lambert-Sigisbert Adam (10 October 1700) was a French sculptor born in 1700 in Nancy. The eldest son of sculptor Jacob-Sigisbert Adam, he was known as Adam l’aîné ("the elder") to distinguish him from his two sculptor brothers Nicolas-Séba ...

and Nicolas Sébastien to Rome, where he arrived in 1730. There he probably studied ancient sculptures from the private collection of the cardinal Polignac, which his brother Lambert-Sigisbert restored and added to.Gerdt Streidt, Peter Feierabend: ''Prussia. Art and Architecture.'' Könemann, Cologne 1999, p. 229. In January 1733, François Gaspard and Lambert-Sigisbert, after a brief stay in Nancy in Lorraine, went to Paris. In 1740 he received second prize for a sculpture in the competition

of the

Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture The Académie royale de peinture et de 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 abolished in 1793 during the French Revolution. I ...

and in 1741 he received first prize with a Rome grant for a bas-relief depicting the ''healing of Tobias''. ' represented. As a scholarship holder he attended the

Académie de France à Rome The French Academy in Rome (, ) is an academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1666 by Louis XIV under the direc ...

for four years from 1742 and was awarded the title of professor by the

Accademia di Belle Arti This is a list of the tertiary-level schools or academies of fine art in Italy that are recognised by the Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca, the Italian ministry of higher education. Accademie di Belle Arti The of ...

in Florence on his return journey to France in 1746 . After a short stay in Paris, Adam entered the service of the Prussian king Frederick II in 1747 through the mediation of Marquis d'Argens, who appointed him the first court sculptor and put him in charge of the French sculpture studio in Berlin. The studio set up in a former garden house in Berlin. The

Lustgarten The Lustgarten (, ''Pleasure Garden'') is a park in Museum Island in central Berlin at the foreground of the ''Altes Museum''. It is next to the (Berlin Cathedral) and near the reconstructed (''Berlin City Palace'') of which it was originally ...

was established by the king specifically for the production of marble sculptures.Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg: ''The gods are returning.'' Jaron, Berlin 2011, p. 11. His first commissioned works were the marble sculptures "

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

Urania" and "

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

n" created in 1748 for the marble hall of the newly built Potsdam summer palace

Sanssouci Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...

. In 1749 the "

Flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

with

Zephyr In European tradition, a zephyr is a light wind or a west wind, named after Zephyrus, the Greek god or personification of the west wind. Zephyr may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional characters * Zephyr (comics), in the Marvel Comics univers ...

" was created for the uppermost vineyard terrace of Sanssouci, which a year later the "Cleopatra mourning Amor” followed. He was also involved in the furnishing of the "French Rondells" in the adjoining south

Parterre A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, plats, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the ...

, for which he created marble figures and bas-reliefs. In 1751 he was made an honorary member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Arts and Mechanical Sciences, Section for Fine Arts. In 1759 François Gaspard Adam left Prussia and returned to Paris, although he had not completed all the commissioned work. His nephew

Sigisbert François Michel Sigebert (which means roughly "magnificent victory"), also spelled Sigibert, Sigobert, Sigeberht, or Siegeberht, is the name of: Frankish and Anglo-Saxon kings * Sigobert the Lame (died c. 509), a king of the Franks * Sigebert I, King of Austrasi ...

executed some of the works, such as the “Mars” in the “French Rondell”, the bust of the legal reformer Samuel von Cocceji for the Berlin

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

and the statue of the Field Marshal

Kurt Christoph von Schwerin Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin (26 October 1684 – 6 May 1757) was a Prussian ''Generalfeldmarschall'', one of the leading commanders under Frederick the Great. Biography He was born in Löwitz, Swedish Pomerania, and at an early age ente ...

for the

Wilhelmplatz Wilhelmplatz was a square in the Mitte district of Berlin, at the corner of Wilhelmstrasse and Voßstraße. The square also gave its name to a Berlin U-Bahn station which has since been renamed Mohrenstraße (Berlin U-Bahn), Mohrenstraße. A numb ...

in Berlin.

References

Bibliography

* Peter Bloch, Waldemar Grzimek: ''Die Berliner Bildhauerschule im neunzehnten Jahrhundert. Das klassische Berlin.'' Revised edition. Gebr. Mann, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-7861-1767-5. * Peter Bloch: ''Ethos & Pathos. Die Berliner Bildhauerschule 1786–1914.'' 2 volumes (catalogue and accompanying volume).. Gebr. Mann, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-7861-1599-0 (On the exhibition, Berlin, Hamburger Bahnhof, 19 May to 29 July 1990). * Eberhard Ruhmer, ''Adam, François Gaspard Balthasar'', ISBN 3-428-00182-6 * Stanislas Lami, ''Adam, François Gaspard Balthasar'' Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker (Hrsg.): Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Edited by Ulrich Thieme und Felix Becker. Volume 1, page61

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adam, Francois Gaspard 1710 births 1761 deaths Rococo sculptors Artists from Nancy, France 18th-century French sculptors French male sculptors Catholic sculptors 18th-century French male artists