CAYOT, Claude-Augustin

(b. 1677 Paris, d. 1722 Paris)

Claude-Augustin Cayot (also spelt Caillot), French sculptor. He may have been trained by the elderly Etienne Le Hongre, but his supple and graceful style better reflects his long association with Corneille van Clève and is typical of the work produced by the sculptors working in France in the last decades of Louis XIV’s reign and during the Régence period. He executed decorative work at the Château Neuf de Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine (1706-07; destroyed), and works in stone and bronze for the chapel of the château of Versailles (1709-10; in situ). He was received (reçu) into the Académie Royale in 1711 with a dramatic marble statuette of Dido Taking her Life (Paris, Louvre), and in 1713-15 he supplied gilt-bronze ornaments for the high altar of Notre-Dame, Paris, in conjunction with François-Antoine Vassé (1681-1736) under the direction of Robert de Cotte. In 1718 he carved a delightful Rococo marble statue of a nymph for the series Companions of Diana (Cliveden, Bucks, NT) for the gardens of the château of Marly, Yvelines. The small marble group of Cupid and Psyche (London, Wallace Collection), long attributed to Cayot, is now generally thought to be by Filippo della Valle.

Cupid and Psyche

Little work by Cayot survives, but the Cupid and Psyche, signed and dated 1706, is remarkable for its accomplishment. Its pervasive infantile grace is such that Psyche too has become a child - a very unusual motif - but the play between the two children is hardly innocent.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 4 minutes):

Francesco Gasparini: The Meddlesome Cupid, aria

Send Postcard Learn More

The Death of Dido

A definite drama, inspired by love, is apparent in the sophisticated Death of Dido, Cayot’s morceau de reception of 1711. This combines detail of the sort approved by Van Cl�ve with an appropriately writhing ‘rococo’ dramatic pose: Dido emerges here as one of the first operatic heroines of the new century, suitably enough when a few years later Metastasio was to produce ‘Didone abbandonata’. Cayot’s Dido is a martyr to love, the figured pose is, especially when seen from the side, an almost violent, ecstatic arabesque, emphasized by the very fluent draperies which manage both to cling and to expose. This woman is dying of love, with a sword thrust deeply into her flesh, eyes upturned, and mouth slackly opened.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 9 minutes):

Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Dido’s Farewell

Send Postcard Learn More