Nicolas Coustou

Nicolas Coustou
Portrait of Nicolas Coustou at work, 1710
Born	9 January 1658(1658-01-09) Lyon
Died	1 May 1733(1733-05-01) (aged 75) Paris
Nationality	French
Field	scultpure
Training	C.A. Coysevox, Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, Académie de France à Rome
Movement	Late French Baroque
Works	La Seine at la Marne, Berger Chasseur, Descent from the Cross, Julius Caesar
Influenced by	Michelangelo, Algardi
Awards	Prix de Rome

Nicolas Coustou (9 January 1658 – 1 May 1733) was a French sculptor and academic.

Born in Lyon, Coustou was the son of a woodcarver, who gave him his first instruction in art. At eighteen he moved to Paris, to study under C.A. Coysevox, his mother's brother, who presided over the recently-established Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture; and at twenty-three he gained the Colbert prize (the Prix de Rome, which entitled him to four years education at the French Academy at Rome. He afterwards became rector and chancellor of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture.

The Seine et Marne

The Decent from the Cross

From the year 1700 he worked with Coysevox at the palaces of Marly and Versailles. He was remarkable for his facility. He was influenced by Michelangelo and Algardi, and tried to combine the best characteristics of each. A number of his works were destroyed during the French Revolution; the most famous of those that remain are "La Seine at la Marne", the "Berger Chasseur", and "Daphne Pursued by Apollo" in the gardens of the Tuileries, the bas-relief "Le Passage du Rhin" in the Louvre, the statues of Julius Caesar and Louis XV in the Louvre, and the "Descent from the Cross" behind the choir altar of the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris.

He worked closely with his younger brother, Guillaume Coustou, also a renowned sculptor and director of the Academy; it is not always possible to ascribe a particular work to one or the other. His son, Guillaume Coustou the Younger was also a sculptor.

Coustou died in Paris in 1733 at the age of 75.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia— Nicholas Coustou

Persondata
Name	Coustou, Nicolas
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	9 January 1658
Place of birth	Lyon
Date of death	1 May 1733
Place of death	Paris