Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (
January 26,
1714 – August 20, 1785
) was a
French sculptor.
He was born in
Paris, the seventh child of a carpenter. Although he failed to obtain the
Grand Prix, after a severe struggle he entered the
Académie Royale and became one of the most popular sculptors of his day.
His earlier work, such as
Child with Cage (model at
Sèvres) and
Mercury Fastening his Sandals (
Berlin, and lead cast in
Louvre), is less commonplace than that of his more mature years, but his nude statue of
Voltaire, dated 1776 (initially in the
Institut de France, purchased by the Louvre in 1962), and his tombs of
Comte d'Harcourt (c. 1764) (
Notre Dame de Paris) and of
Marshal Saxe, completed in 1777 (Saint-Thomas Lutheran church,
Strasbourg), are good examples of French
sculpture in the 18th century.
His name is most commonly known because of the
Pigalle red-light district in
Paris, located around the square of the same name.