Sculpteurs du roi

To be admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, sculptors had to present a piece of work, usually in marble, after receiving approval that gave them the title of sculptor to the king. These virtuoso works, produced between the mid-17th century and the Revolution, tell an essential part of the history of sculpture in France, the training of artists under the Ancien Régime, and the changes undergone by this prestigious academic institution over a century and a half.

This book is devoted to all of these reception pieces, of which the Sculpture Department of the Musée du Louvre preserves an almost complete collection. It allows us to see the plastic power of these admirable figures, presented in their entirety for the first time.