NICOLAS

This article appears in Volume V07, Page 336 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: NEW-NUM

NICOLAS CousTOU (16581733) was the son of a

wood

-carver at Lyons, where he was born. At eighteen he removed to Paris, to study under C. A.

Coysevox

COYSEVOX,

, his mother's brother, who presided over the recently-established

Academy

ACADEMY, GREEK
ACADEMY, ROYAL

of Painting and Sculpture; and at three-and-twenty he gained the Colbert prize, which entitled him to four yea's' education at the French

Academy

ACADEMY, GREEK
ACADEMY, ROYAL

at Rome. He afterwards became

rector

RECTOR (Lat. for " ruler," " guide," &c., from regere, "
rule
- RULE
")

and chancellor of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture. From the year 1700 he was a most active collaborator with

Coysevox

COYSEVOX,

at the palaces of Marly and

Versailles

VERSAILLES

. He was remarkable for his facility; and though he was specially influenced by Michelangelo and Algardi, his numerous works are among the most typical specimens of his age now extant. The most famous are "La Seine et la Marne," "La Saone," the "Berger Chasseur" in the gardens of the Tuileries, the bas-relief "Le Passage du Rhin" in the Louvre, and the "Descent from the Cross" placed behind the choir altar of Notre Dame at Paris.
His younger brother, GUILLAUME COUSTOU (1671-1746), was a sculptor of still greater merit. He also gained the Colbert prize; but refusing to submit to the rules of the Academy, hesoon left it, and for some time wandered houseless through the streets of Rome. At length he was befriended by the sculptor Legros, under whom he studied for some time. Returning to Paris, he was in 1704 admitted into the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, of which he afterwards became director; and, like his brother, he was employed by Louis XIV. , His finest works are the famous group of the "Horse Tamers," originally at Marly, now in the Champs Elysees at Paris, the colossal group "The Ocean and the Mediterranean" at Marly, the bronze "Rhone" which formed part of the statue of Louis XIV. at Lyons, and the sculptures at the entrance of the Hotel des Invalides. Of these latter, the bas-relief representing Louis XIV. -mounted and accompanied by Justice and Prudence was destroyed during the Revolution, but was restored in 1815 by Pierre Cartellier from Coustou's model; the bronze figures of Mars and Minerva, on either side of the doorway, were not interfered with.
Another GUILLAUME Couszou (1716-1777), the son of Nicolas, also studied at Rome, as winner of the Colbert prize. While to a

great

GREAT

extent a copyist of his predecessors, he was much affected by the bad taste of his time, and produced little or nothing of permanent value.
See Louis Gougenot, Aloge de M. Coustou le jeune (1903) ; Arsene

Houssaye

HOUSSAYE, ARSINE (1815-1896)

, Histoire de fart francais au X VIII' siecle (186o) ; Lady Dilke,

Gazette

GAZETTE

des beaux-arts, vol. xxv. (1901) (2 articles).

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