Attributed to Jean Baptiste SANTERRE (1651-1717) - Lot 83

Attributed to Jean Baptiste SANTERRE (1651-1717) Portrait of Nicolas Coustou (1658 - 1733) TOILE 97 x 74 cm 19th-century gilded molded wood frame with old attribution to Rigaud On the frame inscribed Monsieur Brochant and label: Nicolas Coustou né à Lyon en 1658 sculpteur du roi mort à Paris sans enfants en 1728 / marié à Agnès / Suzanne Houasse. (accidents) Provenance: Marie Cecile Coustou (1825-1906) great-granddaughter of Charles Pierre Coustou married Gustave Brochant de Villiers (1811-1864), then by descent. Son of Claudine Coysevox, sister of sculptor Antoine Coysevox, and François Coustou, a Lyon sculptor, Nicolas Coustou (1658-1733) began his career with his father, who introduced him to sculpture. In 1677, his desire to perfect his art led him to head for the capital to join his uncle Antoine Coysevox, then director of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. His departure from Lyon seems to have been a fortunate decision, since five years later, in 1682, at just 24 years of age, he won the Prix de Rome. The following year, from 1683 to 1686, he went to the Académie de France in Rome as the king's boarder. This immersion in the heart of ancient and modern Rome, particularly Bernini's, was decisive, since at the end of this Roman period, he adopted a style that blended classical purity with Baroque dynamism. Our painting, which may well have been produced on his return from these Roman years, is believed to be the sculptor's youngest known portrait. His return to Paris in 1687 enabled him to complete the two marble copies after the antiques that had occupied all his time during his Roman sojourn: Le Hercule Commode du Belvédère (1683-1686, Versailles, Musée National du chateau) and Le gladiateur Borghèse (1683, Paris, Musée du Louvre). His admission to the Académie royale de sculpture et de peinture in 1693, with a bas-relief symbolizing the restoration of the king's health (Le Dieu de la Santé montre à la France le buste de Louis XIV, 1693, Paris, Musée du Louvre), closed his training cycle and launched his professional career. In 1695, he became assistant professor at the Académie, before becoming professor in 1702. This gradual ascent continued until 1715, when he became assistant rector, before being appointed rector five years later and, in 1733, chancellor. His various positions at the Académie were punctuated by a number of prestigious commissions, including the Descente de Croix de Notre-Dame (1723, Paris, Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral) and various works for Louis XIV at the Hôtel des Invalides, Versailles and the Parc de Marly. Expert | Stéphane Pinta - Cabinet Turquin et associés