Pierre Le Gros the Younger
Pierre Le Gros (born April 12, 1666 in Paris , † May 3, 1719 in Rome ) was a French sculptor in late Baroque Rome. He took a leading position in the Roman art business and was significantly involved in many important sculpture projects at the turn of the 18th century. Since it almost never appeared in France, it is mostly attributed to Italian art history.
His name is often spelled Legros today , while he himself always signed as Le Gros . In order to distinguish it from the father of the same name, Pierre Le Gros , it is often specified by adding the younger one . He is also called Pierre II Legros, especially in the English and French-speaking regions .
Life
Youth and education
Le Gros was the son of the older Pierre Le Gros and his wife Jeanne Marsy, who died at an early age. Both the father and the two uncles Gaspard and Balthazar Marsy were busy court sculptors for Louis XIV. His stepmother Marie Le Pautre also came from a Parisian artist family of renowned engravers and sculptors. The young Pierre was instructed early on by his father in the production of sculptures, while he learned drawing from his grandfather, the engraver Jean Le Pautre . When he was 15, he inherited all of his uncle Gaspard's drawings and models. He was later successful in the competitions of the Académie Royale . In 1685 he won the third prize for model drawing, in 1686 the first for sculpture and thus a scholarship to stay in Rome .
When he arrived at the French Academy in Rome in 1690 , he found his cousin there, the sculptor Pierre Le Pautre . They soon became friends with the young architect Gilles-Marie Oppenordt . At that time, the academy was in constant financial need because of the king's high war costs. Only after resistant insistence it was Le Gros allowed an antique, then falsely as Vetturie designated statue in marble copy. Now erected in the Jardin des Tuileries , this figure is the only example of his sculpture that can be found in Paris.
independence
The approach of the jubilee year 1700 spurred the Jesuits to pursue a long-planned project. In the Gesù , the mother church of the order, a splendid altar was supposed to rise above the grave of the order's founder Ignatius of Loyola . In 1695, the sculptors of Rome were asked to submit detailed models for the execution of a group of figures, but to follow an overall design by Andrea Pozzo . Le Gros also took part in secret and received the contract for Religion drives out heresy . He left the French Academy and rented a studio in Palazzo Farnese , which he maintained all his life. He presented a work of liveliness that had not been seen for a long time, especially when compared to the much more rigid counterpart of Jean-Baptiste Théodon . Not finished with this work, Le Gros won the competition for the main figure of the altar, the silver statue of St. Ignatius, to great acclaim in 1697.
At the same time he worked for the Jesuits at the altar of St. Luigi Gonzaga , again according to Pozzo's instructions. With the huge reredos , Le Gros succeeded in one of his major works at an early stage. In a new way, he linked the properties of the relief with those of the statue, highlighting the saint in a three-dimensional and chromatic way on the one hand , and integrating him into the surface on the other.
The Dominicans also became aware of Le Gros at this time. Your Master of the Order Antonin Cloche was busy the process of canonization of Pius V to lead the way. In 1697 he therefore ordered a splendid sarcophagus from Le Gros for a dignified burial place for the Pope. All these works were finished on time for the holy year 1700.
Consolidation of reputation
In 1700 he was elected a member of the Accademia di San Luca . In 1701 he married the Parisian Marie Petit. After her death in 1704 he married Marie-Charlotte Houasse, the daughter of the director of the French Academy in Rome. Appreciated by his earlier achievements by both the Jesuits and the Dominicans, he was able to enjoy a number of follow-up assignments from both orders. The art-loving Pope Clement XI, elected in 1700 . a new phase of an art policy controlled by the Pope began. Long contemplated embellishments of papal churches have now been realized. First, Clemens allowed the religious communities to erect statues in St. Peter's Basilica for their respective founders . However, the Dominicans alone saw a need to hurry to secure the best seat. As early as April 1702, a model of the statue of St. Dominic created by Le Gros was examined in the choir of St. Peter's Basilica and implemented in marble by 1706.
At the same time, with the cycle of the twelve statues of the apostles for the Lateran Basilica, a bitter competition for artistic leadership in Rome developed over a decade and a half. The whole project had a political dimension from the start. The Pope set guidelines but passed the cost of eleven statues on to other princes who acted as donors. The almost 80-year-old painter Carlo Maratti , who was showered with honors by Clemens, drew draft sketches according to which the chosen sculptors were supposed to make a monumental statue. Protests quickly arose over this paternalism, which led Théodon to resign, while most of the other sculptors reluctantly accepted their fate. Only Le Gros was allowed to work two apostles according to his own design. His greatest competitor, Camillo Rusconi , on the other hand, willingly followed Maratti's guidelines, with whom he shared a preference for a more classical Baroque style.
The dynastic grave monument for the La Tour family gave Le Gros the opportunity to gain new opportunities from a traditional French task. The monument was commissioned by the French ambassador in Rome, Cardinal Bouillon , and was intended for Cluny Abbey , of which he was Abbot General . It included in particular the seated figures of his parents, Frédéric-Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, duc de Bouillon , and Eléonor-Fébronie de Bergh. The scenic combination of both should allude to the duke's conversion under the influence of his wife. However, since the cardinal rebelled against Louis XIV and fled the country, the establishment was prevented by royal officials. From 1709, the individual parts delivered from Rome lay in boxes in Cluny for almost a century. The original monument by Le Gros therefore never came into its own and had no effect on the development of French art.
A unique collaboration with the architect Filippo Juvarra , a close friend, led from 1708 to the artistically outstanding creation of the Cappella Antamori in San Girolamo della Carità . The focal point is a floating figure of Saint Filippo Neri , whose impressive silhouette is highlighted by a golden backlight . The drawings that have been preserved show how both artists exchanged suggestions for the design of architecture and sculpture and evidently discussed them lively.
The inspired connection of two tombs for people of different rank is revealed in the concept of the tomb monument for Pope Gregory XV. and Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi . Le Gros added a smaller one with a precious medallion of the nephew to the papal tomb, which was composed around a seated statue . Executed under the supervision of the Jesuits, the merits of both buried people for St. Ignatius were particularly emphasized. The two floating famae were executed by Pierre-Étienne Monnot according to the specifications of Le Gros.
The end
In 1713 hopes were dashed to persuade the French king to finance the last Lateran Apostle and to entrust the execution to Le Gros. In the same year Le Gros was a consultant in a commission for the furnishing of the chapel of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Sant'Andrea al Quirinale . A decade earlier he himself had created a reclining statue of the saint for the place where he died in the adjoining convent. He now proposed to transfer them to church. However, his unyielding attitude towards all reservations spoiled the longstanding favor of the Jesuits. A year later Le Gros's father died in Paris and he himself suffered from acutely life-threatening gallstones . A little rested, he went to his hometown in 1715 to have an operation and to settle his inheritance. There the art patron and banker friend Pierre Crozat took him into his house, where Le Gros carried out a stucco decoration that was destroyed today . In addition, he might now be considering settling in Paris again. However, the hostile attitude of his artist colleagues in the royal academy prompted him to return to Rome quickly.
There, his absence had been used as an excuse to award the last Lateran sculpture to Rusconi. Now entrusted with four statues of the apostles, Rusconi was able to clearly outdo all other sculptors, and especially Le Gros. Art policy at the Accademia di San Luca had also taken on despotic traits. With the new statutes of 1715, artists who did not belong to the institution were also declared liable to pay tribute. On his return in 1716, Le Gros supported the protest that had broken out and was therefore expelled from the academy. Through this ban, he was practically denied access to public contracts. The only new commission for two facade sculptures in Turin came to Le Gros from Juvarra, who was now working as court architect in Savoy .
However, at the end of 1718, Le Gros was particularly bitter when Rusconi was appointed a knight . While he was honored by the Pope for his services to the Lateran, he was denied any recognition. If Mariette is to be believed, this grief weighed heavily on his health. At the age of 53, Pierre Le Gros died a few months later of pneumonia and was buried in the French national church of San Luigi dei Francesi . Not until 1725 was he posthumously rehabilitated as a member of the Accademia di San Luca.
Meaning and effect
Today, Le Gros is largely forgotten by those interested in art, but shares this fate with almost all the artists of his time who worked in Rome. After the general condemnation of the Baroque from the 18th to well into the 20th century, Gianlorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini have now been given the high status they deserve. Le Gros, Rusconi, Maratti or Carlo Fontana are still mostly viewed as pure epigones . During their lifetime, however, they were considered to be outstanding figures across Europe who were valued as role models by generations of up-and-coming artists.
An impartial view shows that Le Gros is a driving force in an international milieu. While family life was very French, his closest friends included painters like the Dutchman Gaspar van Wittel , the French Nicolas Vleughels and the Italian Sebastiano Conca , as well as architects like the Italian Juvarra and the French Oppenordt, among the sculptors Angelo de 'Rossi as well the loyal students and employees Paolo Campi and Gaetano Pace. In addition, the need for assistants over the years brought a group of young sculptors and painters from all over Europe to his studio. Before 1700, the Englishman Francis Bird and the French Guillaume Coustou were his workshop assistants. Both should then produce significant artistic achievements in their home countries. In addition to the direct dissemination of his style by students, there are also copies of important statues such as St. Dominic , Ignatius or the Apostle Bartholomew in large parts of Europe. The works of Le Gros were also studied after his death, as evidenced by sketches by Edme Bouchardon . Even in the late 18th century, his Vetturie was described by Paris academy teachers as an exemplary masterpiece, the quality of which far surpassed the ancient model. The importance of Le Gros for European art of the 18th century is therefore beyond question.
Artistic style
Le Gros was the greatest virtuoso of his time when it came to working with marble and demonstrated a great deal of skill for a variety of surface designs. He was able to make the represented material tangible, be it delicate human skin, tangled hair, filigree tips , stiff leather straps or metallic armor.
Le Gros always had a tendency to develop his works in relief. The broad outline was more important to him than working with mass and space. Even though the design is very plastic in detail as in the large form, there is usually also a system in layers. The statues are by no means one-sided because he developed the lines of composition in the room and led them around the figure. While a classic thinking artist like Rusconi closely linked the spatial development with the anatomy of the figure, Le Gros achieved this with an abundance of freely modelable clothing and extensive gestures. In addition, he showed a keen sense for nuanced light and shadow effects, whether it was the highlighting of the heavily polished , snow-white figure of Luigi Gonzaga or the deeply shadowed figure of Filippo Neri . As one of only a few sculptors of all time, Le Gros was able to combine the monumental effect of a statue with a finely designed detail without appearing grotesque. That is why it is worth getting close to his larger-than-life figures.
Important works
- Vetturie (Paris, Jardin des Tuileries), 1692–1695, life-size marble statue. This antique copy was only shipped from Rome to France in 1715. First erected in the park of Marly , it came to the Tuileries in 1722 ( photo series here ).
- Religion drives out heresy (Rome, Il Gesù, Ignatius Altar), 1695–1698, larger than life marble group.
- Saint Ignatius (Rome, Il Gesù, Ignatius Altar), 1697–1699, larger than life silver statue ( general view of the altar here ).
- Pope Pius V (Rome, Santa Maria Maggiore , Cappella Sistina), 1697–1698, gilded bronze. Today the relief can only be seen on request. It serves as a front flap for the Pope's sarcophagus and is usually open to allow a view of the bones.
- Saint Luigi Gonzaga (Rome, Sant'Ignazio ), 1697–1699, monumental marble relief ( photo series here ).
- Tomb for the La Tour family ( Cluny , Hôtel-Dieu ), larger-than-life figures and battle relief. The order was issued between 1697 and 1701, the implementation is completed in 1707 at the latest. In 1709 it arrives at Cluny Abbey ( photos and description here ).
- Saint Francis Xavier (Rome, Sant'Apollinare), 1702, life-size marble statue. The reversed terracotta model is in the Hermitage , Saint Petersburg ( photo here ).
- Tobit and Gabael (Rome, Cappella del Monte di Pietà), 1702–1705, marble relief. Théodon made the counterpart again.
- Saint Stanislaus Kostka on the death bed (Rome, Jesuit convent near Sant'Andrea al Quirinale), 1702–1703, reclining statue made of different colored marble.
- Saint Dominic (Rome, Saint Peter), 1702–1706, monumental marble statue ( photo here ).
- Apostle Thomas (Rome, San Giovanni in Laterano), around 1703–1711, marble statue, around 425 cm high ( photo here ). The much livelier terracotta model is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art ( photo here ).
- Apostle Bartholomäus (Rome, San Giovanni in Laterano), around 1703–1712, marble statue, around 425 cm high.
- Cardinal Girolamo Casanate (Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense ), 1706–1708, larger than life marble statue.
- Saint Filippo Neri (Rome, San Girolamo della Carità, Cappella Antamori), 1708–1710, life-size marble statue.
- Grave monument for Pope Gregory XV. and Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi (Rome, Sant'Ignazio), around 1709–1714, figurative parts made of marble ( photos here ).
- Intercession of St. Francis of Paola (Rome, San Giacomo degli Incurabili, Cappella di San Francesco di Paola), 1711–1714, marble relief. Le Gros is also the architect of the chapel ( photo here ).
- Emperor Heinrich II. (Montecassino, Benedictine Abbey, Chiostro dei Benefattori), 1714–1719, life-size marble statue. Damaged by bombs in 1944, restored today.
- Saint Christina and Saint Theresa (Turin, Cathedral), around 1717–1719, larger-than-life marble statues. The figures were created for the facade of Santa Cristina in Turin. However, they were found to be too good to be exposed to the elements and were never placed outdoors.
literature
- Gerhard Bissell: Pierre Le Gros 1666–1719 , Si Vede, Reading 1997 (in German), ISBN 0-9529925-0-7 .
- Daniel Büchel, Arne Karsten, Philipp Zitzlsperger: “With art out of the crisis? Pierre Legros' tomb for Pope Gregory XV. Ludovisi in the Roman Church of S. Ignazio ”. In: Marburger Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft, Vol. 29, 2002, pp. 165–197.
- Robert Enggass: Early Eighteenth-Century Sculpture in Rome , Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park and London 1976, ISBN 0-271-01200-5 .
- Christopher MS Johns: The Art Patronage of Pope Clement XI Albani and the Paleochristian Revival in early Eighteenth Century Rome , Dissertation University of Delaware 1985, printed Ann Arbor 1990.
- Pascal Julien: Pierre Legros, sculpteur romain , in: Gazette des Beaux-Arts , Vol. 135, No. 1574, 2000, pp. 189-214.
- François Souchal: French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th Centuries. The Reign of Louis XIV , Vol. 2, Cassirer, Oxford 1981, ISBN 0-85181-063-2 , Vol. 4, Faber, London 1993, ISBN 0-571-14435-7 .
Web links
- Gerhard Bissell, On the Tercentenary of the Death of Pierre Le Gros , Italian Art Society blog, May 2, 2019
- Artcyclopedia
- Art Renewal Center
- Insecula
- Web Gallery of Art
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Le Gros, Pierre the Younger |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Legros, Pierre; Le Gros, Pierre |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French sculptor in Rome |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 12, 1666 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 3, 1719 |
| Place of death | Rome |