Germain Pilon (c. 1525 – 3 February 1590)Connat & Colombier 1951; Thirion 1996. was a

French Renaissance The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define ...

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 ...

. He is, along with Jean Goujon, one of the most important sculptors of the French Renaissance. Best known as the creator of many of the tombs of the

House of Valois The Capetian House of Valois ( , also , ) was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. They succeeded the House of Capet (or "Direct Capetians") to the List of French monarchs, French throne, and were the royal house of France from 1328 to 1589. ...

Biography

He was born in

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 ...

and trained with his father, Andre Pilon. Documents show that he and his father executed several religious statues and tomb effigies in collaboration. Since Connat & Colombier established that Germain was born c. 1525 (rather than about ten years later, as previously believed), several early works have been reattributed to him, including the marble grouping ''Diana with a Stag'' (originally at the

Château d'Anet The Château d'Anet is a château near Dreux, in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France, built by Philibert de l'Orme from 1547 to 1552 for Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henry II of France. It was built on the former château at the ...

, Eure-et-Loir; now at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

).''Diana with a Stag'' was formerly attributed to Jean Goujon, but

Anthony Blunt Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), (formerly styled Sir Anthony Blunt from 1956 until November 1979), was a leading British art historian and a Soviet spy. Blunt was a professor of art history at the University ...

conclusively rejected that attribution in 1953 and argued the statue is very likely an early work of Germain Pilon (see Blunt & Beresford 1999, pp. 80–81). Thirion considers Blunt's reattribution to be relatively convincing (Thirion 1996, p. 812). Later he worked with Pierre Bontemps. Pilon became expert with marble, bronze, wood and terra cotta. From about 1555 he was providing models for Parisian goldsmiths. He was also skilled at drawing. His works - with their realism and theatrical emotion - show the influence of the

School of Fontainebleau The School of Fontainbleau () () refers to two periods of artistic production in France during the late French Renaissance centered on the royal Palace of Fontainebleau that were crucial in forming Northern Mannerism, and represent the first majo ...

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

and Italian

Mannerism Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

. Germain at first had an Italian influence. Much of Pilon's work was on funerary monuments, especially the Valois Chapel at the

Saint Denis Basilica The Basilica of Saint-Denis (, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building is of singular importance historically and archite ...

Francesco Primaticcio Francesco Primaticcio (; April 30, 1504 – 1570) was an Italian Mannerism, Mannerist Painting, painter, architect and sculpture, sculptor who spent most of his career in France. Biography Born in Bologna, he trained under Giulio Romano ( ...

(never completed). He was the favorite sculptor of

Catherine de' Medici Catherine de' Medici (, ; , ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Italian Republic of Florence, Florentine noblewoman of the Medici family and Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to Henry II of France, King Henry II. Sh ...

. He was the son of Andre Pilon and Jeanne Becque. He was married twice, to Germaine Durand and Madeleine Beaudoux. He had 11 children: Jean, Raphaël, Germain Junior, Gervais, Claude, Jeanne, Lucrece, Charlotte, Suzanne, Anthoine, and Philippe.

Works

Pilon's most famous works include: * Eight subsidiary statues for the ''Tomb of Francis I'' (contracted with

Philibert de l'Orme Philibert de l'Orme () (3-9 June 1514 – 8 January 1570) was a French architect and writer, and one of the great masters of French Renaissance architecture. His surname is also written De l'Orme, de L'Orme, or Delorme. Biography Early care ...

, 1558). * ''Monument containing the heart of

Henry II of France Henry II (; 31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was List of French monarchs#House of Valois-Angoulême (1515–1589), King of France from 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I of France, Francis I and Claude of France, Claude, Du ...

'' (1561–1562) Louvre - made in collaboration with

Domenico del Barbieri Domenico del Barbiere (c. 1506 – c. 1570) was a Florence, Florentine artist of the Renaissance period, also referred to as Domenico Fiorentino, and, in France, Dominique Florentin. He settled and married at Troyes in France between 1530 and 1 ...

(who designed the pedestal), Pilon was responsible for the eloquent sculpture of the Three Graces, executed from a single block of marble. The king's heart was placed in a bronze urn held by the Three Graces, but this urn was destroyed during the French Revolution and has been replicated.Victoria L. Goldberg, "Graces, Muses, and Arts: The Urns of Henry II and Francis I" ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'' 29 (1966), pp. 206-218. *'' Tomb of Valentina Balbiani'', a white marble tomb sculpture constructed between 1573 and 1574 for Jeanne Valentine Balbiani, the Italian wife of the French statesman René de Birague.Cohen (1973), p. 174 * ''Tomb of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici'' (1561–1573) Abbey Church of

- Pilon was responsible for the kneeling bronze figures on top of this monument (depicting the king and queen alive and praying) the moving and realistic recumbent figures of the queen and king in death at the center and the four ''Virtues'' at the corners of the monument, the construction of which was supervised by

(who sculpted the four corner figures). (Catherine de' Medici is reported to have fainted at the sight of these figures.) * ''Effigies of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici in coronation dress'' (1583) Abbey Church of

- this later pair lacks the emotional intensity of the previous work * ''Resurrection of Christ'' and recumbent figures of the guardians of the tomb, reunited in 1933 at the

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

. * ''Virgin of Pity'' (c.1585) (terra cotta)

* ''Tomb of Valentine Balbiani'' (1574)

* ''Descent from the Cross'' (1580–1585) (Bronze bas-relief)

* ''Three Fates'' ( Hôtel de Cluny, Paris).

Gallery

Image:Resurrection Pilon Louvre RF2292 MR1592 MR1593.jpg, ''Resurrection of Christ'',

Image:Pilon-risenchrist.jpg, ''Resurrection of Christ'' (detail) File:Diana of Anet.jpg, ''Diana with a Stag'', Louvre File:Rotonde des Valois Intérieur.jpg, Drawing of how the tomb of Henry II and his wife originally looked; it shows the Effigies at top and the double tomb below File:Basilica di saint Denis tomba enrico II e caterina de' Medici 02.JPG, Tomb of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici,

Saint-Denis Basilica The Basilica of Saint-Denis (, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building is of singular importance historically and archite ...

, with marble effigies File:Basilica di saint Denis tomba enrico II e caterina de' Medici 03.JPG, Saint-Denis Basilica, kneeling bronzes of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici on top of their tomb File:Heinrich II Katharina von Medici 1.jpg, Saint-Denis Basilica, marble sculptures of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici in coronation robes

Notes

Bibliography

* Babelon, Jean (1927). ''Germain Pilon''. Paris: Les Beaux-Arts, Edition d'etudes et de documents. . * Blunt, Anthony; Beresford, Richard (1999). ''Art and Architecture in France, 1500–1700'', 5th edition. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. . * Cohen, Kathleen. ''Metamorphosis of a Death Symbol: The Transi Tomb in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance''. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1973. * Connat, M.; Colombier, P. du (1951). "Quelques Documents commentés sur André et Germain Pilon", ''Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance'', vol. 13, pp. 196–204. . * Thirion, Jacques (1996). "Pilon, Germain", vol. 24, pp. 812–815, in ''

The Dictionary of Art ''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...

'' (34 volumes), edited by Jane Turner. New York: Grove. Also a
Oxford Art Online
(bibliography updated 2003, 2010; subscription required).

External links