Robert Le Lorrain
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Robert Le Lorrain (1666–1743) was a French
baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
sculptor. 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 ...
into a family of bureaucrats, the son of Claude Le Lorrain, a business agent of
Nicolas Fouquet Nicolas Fouquet, marquis de Belle-Île, vicomte de Melun et Vaux (; 27 January 1615 – 23 March 1680) was the Superintendent of Finances in France from 1653 until 1661 under King Louis XIV. He had a glittering career, and acquired enormous weal ...
,
Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
's Minister of Finance. Le Lorrain was a student of the French sculptor, painter, and architect,
Pierre Paul Puget Pierre Paul Puget (16 October 1620 (or 31 October 1622) – 2 December 1694) was a French Baroque painter, sculptor, architect and engineer. His sculpture expressed emotion, pathos and drama, setting it apart from the more classical and academ ...
(1620–1694). At age eighteen, Le Lorrain entered François Girardon's studio; aside from collaborating with him, he was commissioned to instruct Girardon's children in drawing and to supervise his other pupils. Le Lorrain won 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 ...
in 1689, On his return to Paris he first joined the
Académie de Saint-Luc The Académie de Saint-Luc (; ) was a guild of painters and sculptors set up in Paris in 1391, and dissolved in 1776. It was created by the Provost of Paris, along the lines of the Guilds of Saint Luke in other parts of Europe. In 1648, a group ...
, and then was received into 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 ...
(Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris) in 1701; he became Rector of the Académie in 1737. His major non-royal clients were members of the
house of Rohan The House of Rohan () is a Bretons, Breton family of viscounts, later dukes and princes in the French nobility, coming from the locality of Rohan, Morbihan, Rohan in Brittany. Their line descends from the viscounts of Porhoët and is said to tr ...
. His students included
Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne (; 15 February 1704 – 25 May 1778) was a French sculptor of the 18th century who worked in both the rococo and neoclassical style. He made monumental statuary for the Gardens of Versailles but was best known for his exp ...
(1704–1778) and
Jean-Baptiste Pigalle Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (; 26 January 1714 – 20 August 1785) was a French sculptor whose work was influenced by both baroque and neo-classical trends. Life Pigalle was born in Paris, the seventh child of a carpenter. Although he failed to ob ...
(1714–1785). Robert Le Lorrain died in Paris in 1743. Disappointingly few works by this highly accomplished master have survived. His best-known work is the stone relief, ''The Horses of the Sun'', over the stable doors at the
Hôtel de Rohan The Archives nationales (; abbreviated AN; English: National Archives) are the national archives of France. They preserve the archives of the French state, apart from the archives of the Ministry of Armed Forces and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ...
, Paris; sculptures executed in 1718-21 for the Cardinal de Rohan at the Château de Saverne were lost in the fire in the château in 1779, but sculptures for the
palais Rohan, Strasbourg The Palais Rohan (Rohan Palace) in Strasbourg is the former residence of the prince-bishops and Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinals of the House of Rohan, an ancient French nobility, French noble family originally from Brittany. It is a major arch ...
, survive. Though Le Lorrain's works for Marly have been dispersed or lost, as have church monuments in Paris and Orléans, sculpture in the chapel at
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...
survives.Beaulieu 1982 contains a catalogue of existing and lost works. The
Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...
(London), the
Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single co ...
, the
J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthies ...
(Los Angeles), the
Liechtenstein Museum The Gartenpalais Liechtenstein (eng.: Liechtenstein Garden Palace) is a baroque palace on Fürstengasse in Vienna's 9th district, Alsergrund. The palace is owned by the Princely Family of Liechtenstein, rulers of Liechtenstein. It sits on the sou ...
(Vienna), 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 ...
, and the
National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...
(Washington D.C.), and are among the public collections holding sculpture by Robert Le Lorrain. He is known to have been a prolific draughtsman: no drawings securely attributed to him survive.


References

* Beaulieu, Michèle, ''Robert Le Lorrain (1666-1743)'', (Neuilly-sur-Seine: Arthena), 1982. The first monograph devoted to the sculptor. * Souchal, François, ''French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th Centuries. The Reign of Louis XIV.'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 1981. Vol. II. G-L, ''s.v.'' "Robert Le Lorrain"


External links


ArtCyclopedia


* {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Lorrain, Robert 1666 births 1743 deaths 17th-century French sculptors French male sculptors 18th-century French sculptors French Baroque sculptors 18th-century French male artists