, an eminent French sculptor, was born at Nancy, Feb. 10, 1700. He
, an eminent French sculptor, was born at Nancy, Feb. 10, 1700. He was the son
of Jacob-Sigisbert Adam, also a sculptor of considerable
note. At the age of eighteen, he came to Metz; but a desire
to extend his reputation made him repair to Paris, where
he arrived in 1719. After exercising his profession about
four years, he obtained the first prize, and then went to
Rome, with a royal pension, where he remained ten years.
While here, he was employed by the cardinal de Polignac
in restoring the twelve marble statues known as the “family
of Lycomedes,
” which had been discovered among the
ruins of the villa of Marius, about two leagues from Rome,
and acquitted himself with great success in a branch of the
art which is seldom rewarded or honoured in proportion to
its difficulties. He afterwards restored several antique
sculptures, of which the king of Prussia had got possession,
and which he conveyed to Berlin. When an intention was
formed of erecting that vast monument at Rome known by
the name of the “Fountain of Trevi,
” he was one of the
sixteen sculptors who gave in designs; but, although his was
adopted by pope Clement XI I. the jealousy of the Italian
artists prevented his executing it. At this time, however,
advantageous offers were made by his own country, to
which he returned, after being chosen a member of the
academies of St. Luke, and of Bologna. His first work,
after his return to France, was the groupe of the “Seine
et Marne
” for the cascade at St. Cloud. He was then employed at Choisi; and, in May 1737, was elected a member of the French academy, and professor. The piece he
exhibited on his admission was “Neptune calming the
waves,
” with a Triton at his feet; and not “Prometheus
chained to the rock,
” as some biographers have asserted,
which was the production of his brother Nicholas. He
then executed the groupe of “Neptune and Amphitrite
”
for the bason at Versailles, on which he was employed five
years, and was rewarded, besides the stipulated price,
with a pension of 500 livres. One of his best works was
the figure of “St. Jerome,
” now at St. Roch. His other
works are, a groupe of five figures and of five animals,
at Versailles, in bronze; the bas-relief of the chapel of
St. Elizabeth, in bronze; two groupes in bronze of
hunting and fishing at Berlin; “Mars caressed by Love,
”
at Bellevue; and a statue representing the enthusiasm of
poetry. In all these there are undoubted proofs of genius, but proofs likewise of the bad taste in sculpture
which prevailed in his time, and induced him, after the
example of Bernini and others, to attempt efforts which
can only be successful in painting. In 1754, he published
“Recueil de Sculptures antiques Græcques et Romanies,
”
fol. for which he made the designs. Most of these he had
purchased from the heirs of cardinal de Polignac. He died
of an apoplexy, May 15, 1759.
, an eminent French sculptor, professor of the schools of sculpture
, an eminent French sculptor, professor of the schools of sculpture and painting, a member of the French Institute and of the legion of honour, was born at Paulien, in the department of the Haute-Loire, in 1731. He was the pupil first of Samuel, a sculptor in Puy en Velay, with whom he remained two years, after which he was placed at Lyons under Riache, another artist, where he made great progress in sculpture, and after gaining a prize at the academy of Lyons, came to Paris. Here he entered the school of William Coustou, statuary to the king, in 1765, and gained the prize of sculpture for a beautiful bas-relief, representing Sabinus offering his chariot to the vestals, when the Gauls were about to invade Rome. There was a simplicity in the style, taste, and character of this piece which struck the connoisseurs as something different from what they had been accustomed to see in the modern school. The artist, according to the custom of the times, enjoyed the usual pension for three years at Paris, and did not go to Rome until 1768, where, his fame having preceded him, he was employed by the president Belenger to execute a mausoleum in marble for his wife and daughter. Besides the other labours enjoined to the pensionary artists, Julien made copies, in marble, for the president Ocardi, of the Apollo Belvidere, the Flora in the Farnese palace, and the Gladiator in the Borghese palace, all which are now in the collection at Versailles. He was afterwards recalled to Paris to assist Coustou in the mausoleum for the dauphin and dauphiness. Of this he executed the figure of immortality, and had the charge of removing the whole to the cathedral of Sens, where it now is.