PUGET, Pierre

The small statue is one of the numerous studies made for the colossal marble statue in the church of Santa Maria Assunta di Carignano.

This masterpiece in wood is perhaps a fragment of a figure of Mars or Neptune from a naval decoration.

The relief was executed in Mantua for the Grand Duke. It is one of the highest achievements in pictorial sculpture.

Puget’s style here springs from the Roman Baroque, but not in the first place from Bernini. There is no work of Bernini which attempts to convey the feeling of anguish, which is the principal characteristic of Puget’s Atlantes. In this way they mark rather a direct return to the Slaves of Michelangelo, who was at all times an important inspiration to the artist. But there are also models for them to be found in Puget’s own master, Pietro da Cortona. One of the novelties of the latter’s ceiling in the Palazzo Barberini is that in the painted corners the entablatures are supported not, as in the Farnese Gallery, by nonchalant athletes in classically calm poses, but by struggling figures oppressed by their loads.

The colossal statue, together with another, representing St Sebastian, was intended to be placed below the dome of the church.

Alessandro Sauli (1534-1593) was the Supreme General of the Barnabite Order. He was canonized due to his conduct during the peste of 1580.

The bust together with those of the Young August, the Emperor August and a female bust was intended to decorate an aristocratic palace, reflecting the taste of the commissioners for antiquities. From the slight differences in the execution of the four busts an intervention of the assistants can be deduced (less in Marcus Aurelius than in the others).

The bust together with those of the Marcus Arelius, the Emperor August and a female bust was intended to decorate an aristocratic palace, reflecting the taste of the commissioners for antiquities. From the slight differences in the execution of the four busts an intervention of the assistants can be deduced (less in Marcus Aurelius than in the others).

Young August was executed in antique taste without any direct analogy. There is a strong relation to the representation of the young man in the famous relief Meeting of Pope Leo and Attila by Algardi.

It is not known whether this low-relief is a model of a larger composition or a work intended for private devotion. The Baroque of Rome and the French line of representations are alloyed in this fine work.

In 1656 Puget received his first important commission, for the door of the H�tel de Ville at Toulon. The general scheme of this door was one already current in Italy, but in the treatment of the figures Puget shows great originality. In the freedom of their movement and in the fluidity of their modelling they are far more Baroque than anything of the period in the Parisian tradition.

In 1656 Puget received his first important commission, for the door of the H�tel de Ville at Toulon. The general scheme of this door was one already current in Italy, but in the treatment of the figures Puget shows great originality. In the freedom of their movement and in the fluidity of their modelling they are far more Baroque than anything of the period in the Parisian tradition.

In 1656 Puget received his first important commission, for the door of the H�tel de Ville at Toulon. The general scheme of this door was one already current in Italy, but in the treatment of the figures Puget shows great originality. In the freedom of their movement and in the fluidity of their modelling they are far more Baroque than anything of the period in the Parisian tradition.

The H�tel d’Estienne-de-Saint-Jean is a private mansion, built in around 1671 by Pierre Puget. It became the Museum of Old Aix in 1932.

The fa�ade of the building with fluted pilasters and Corinthian capitals gives the impression of a severe and sober wall. The present gate dates from the eighteenth century.

The photo shows the fa�ade.

Aix-en-Provence was the accomplished model of a town that was also the seat of a provincial parlement. From 1646 Cardinal Michel Mazarin (brother to the king’s minister) had the “Mirabeau” neighbourhood (called Quartier Mazarin) laid out to the south of the former main street. Private residences with noble, sober fa�ades were set along rectilinear streets enlivened by fountains, such as the one called Quatre-Dauphins, made by Jean-Claude Rambot. To the north are faintly Baroque fa�ades traditionally attributed to Pierre Puget: H�tel Boyer d’Eguilles (c. 1675) and Hotel d’Estienne de Saint-Jean (now the Old Aix Museum). Giant orders characterize these fa�ades.

Puget’s two surviving built works, other than the displaced portal of the Toulon H�tel-de-Ville, are the Halle aux Poissons, a magnificent temple-like building in Marseille, and the famous Hospice de la Charit�, Marseille, for which his designs were accepted in 1671, though the building was not completed until 1747.

The ensemble, with its oval, domed chapel surrounded by an open arcaded courtyard, is a highly original achievement of southern French architecture. It displays a thorough knowledge of recent Roman Baroque buildings, in particular of the more austerely decorated but spatially inventive works of Bernini and Rainaldi. It also displays an understanding of the latest developments in Paris, and has affinities in design as well as function with Lib�ral Bruand’s H�tel des Invalides and the chapel of the Salpetri�re. Pierre Puget apparently had little to do with the actual building of the project, though from 1700–07 Fran�ois Puget was in charge of its completion.

Puget’s chapel guards the entrance to La Vieille Charit�, Marseille

La Vieille Charit� is a former almshouse, now functioning as a museum and cultural centre, situated in the heart of the old Panier quarter of Marseille in the south of France. Constructed between 1671 and 1749 in the Baroque style to the designs of the architect Pierre Puget, it comprises four ranges of arcaded galleries in three storeys surrounding a space with a central chapel surmounted by an ovoid dome.

The main body of the structure is a rectangle, 112 m by 96 m, composed of four walls in pink and yellow-tinted molasse stone from the ancient quarries at Cap Couronne, with no outward facing windows. On the inside are three arcaded galleries superposed on each other, opening onto an interior courtyard measuring 82 m by 45 m. In the centre of the courtyard is a harmonious chapel, a round church, crowned by an ellipsoidal dome and fronted by a portico in the classical style with Corinthian columns. This Baroque chapel ranks as one of Puget’s most original designs.

Puget’s two surviving built works, other than the displaced portal of the Toulon H�tel-de-Ville, are the Halle aux Poissons, a magnificent temple-like building in Marseille, and the famous Hospice de la Charit�, Marseille, for which his designs were accepted in 1671, though the building was not completed until 1747.

Halle aux Poissons (Halle Puget) was built to replace the old fish market, which has become too small after the expansion of the city. Built in the model of an ancient temple, its roof of tile rests on Ionic columns. It housed the fish and meat market in the seventeenth century. In 1887 it was transformed into a chapel, the hall had been walled and the columns recessed. After a restoration in 1987 it regained its original appearance.

The picturesque composition follows Dutch examples (Willem Van de Velde the Younger and Ludolf Backhuysen) representing three different kind of ships.

This sculpture, originally intended for the Château of Vaux-le-Vicomte residence of the superintendant of Finance, Fouquet, having belonged to Colbert, the great minister of Louis XIV.

The figure of Hercules played an important role in the iconography of 17th-18th-century France. The French accepted the legend that the Trojan Hercules had been the tenth king of the Gaul. A Gallic Hercules (who was also the god of eloquence) was celebrated in honour of Fran�ois I. Furthermore, Henri IV and Louis XIII lent their features to the hero.

In 1659 Puget was called to Paris on a commission. He was invited by Claude Girardin, one of Fouquet’s chief assistants, to make two statues for his chateau of Vaudreuil in Normandy. As a result of this he came to the notice of Fouquet himself, and received a commission to make for him a Hercules resting. Puget went himself to the Carrara mountains to choose marble for this statue, and settled in Genoa to execute it; but before it was finished he heard of the fall of Fouquet. Thus the sculpture, originally intended for the Chateau of Vaux, residence of the superintendant of Finance, Fouquet, went to Colbert, the great minister of Louis XIV.

In this bust Puget followed the type of the Hellenistic portrait from Pergamon.

The statue was commissioned by the Lomellini family, who also commissioned the artist to decorate their palace in Genoa.

Puget worked on a portrait of the king since 1659. This medallion is related to the activities in the second half of the 1680s connected with the equestrian statue intended by the City of Marseille to erect on Place Royale.

This medallion is clearly influenced by Antoine Coysevox’s bust of Louis XIV ordered in 1679.

Milo (or Milon) of Croton was a legendary Greek wrestler from the Greek settlement of Croton in southern Italy. He won the wrestling contest at five successive Olympic Games, and swept the board at all other festivals. A man of huge stature, he boasted that no one had ever brought him to his knees. It is said that he carried a live ox upon his shoulders through the stadium at Olympia, then ate it all in a single day. Tradition has it that in his old age, on seeing an oak tree partly split open with a wedge he tried to wrench it apart, but only succeeded in causing the wedge to fall out, thereby trapping his hands. He was left a helpless prey to the wild beast who soon finished him off. He is usually depicted in Baroque art as a partly naked muscular figure, his hands imprisoned by a tree trunk, and attacked by a lion.

Having suggested to Colbert the idea of a statue of Milo for Versailles, Puget took an exceptionally large block of marble and carved out of it the hero, his hand caught in a split tree-trunk, about to be devoured by a lion. Completed at Marseille after ten years’ work, the sculpture, signed and dated 1682, was sent of to Versailles in 1683 and placed at the entrance of the Tapis Vert. It has been in the Louvre since 1820. Among the sculptures made for Versailles, Puget’s Milo represents the irruption of the Baroque. But though it is animated by violent, twisting movements, and strong diagonals, it is nevertheless inscribed in a geometric, almost classical framework.

You can view other depictions of Milo of Croton in the Web Gallery of Art.

In 1670 Puget found in the dockyards at Toulon two blocks of marble which had been abandoned there, and after some difficulty he got Colbert’s permission to use them for statues. From them he carved the Milo of Crotona and the relief of Alexander and Diogenes.

The Milo is perhaps Puget’s most remarkable work. It has the qualities of emotional intensity which were already apparent in the door of the H�tel de Ville at Toulon and the St Sebastian, but in addition it has a concentration and a geometrical regularity which are almost classical. In the Milo Puget invented a truly French Baroque.

The statue is Baroque in its violence of movement, in the sharp twist of the arm and head, in the naturalism of the tree trunk, which indicates that the artist must have known Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne. But the movement is so carefully controlled that, seen from the front as it is meant to be seen, the whole statue forms a simple silhouette composed of two sets of parallel axes: the legs and left arm forming one set, and the torso, drapery, and tree trunk forming the other. The head and the mask are based on the Laocoon and have the degree of restraint apparent even in that most Baroque of ancient groups.

The Milo was taken to Versailles by Puget’s son, Fran�ois, and arrived there in 1683. After a moment of doubt it was approved by the King and given a prominent position in the gardens at Versailles.

You can view other depictions of Milo of Croton in the Web Gallery of Art.

In 1670 Puget found in the dockyards at Toulon two blocks of marble which had been abandoned there, and after some difficulty he got Colbert’s permission to use them for statues. From them he carved the Milo of Crotona and the relief of Alexander and Diogenes.

The Milo is perhaps Puget’s most remarkable work. It has the qualities of emotional intensity which were already apparent in the door of the H�tel de Ville at Toulon and the St Sebastian, but in addition it has a concentration and a geometrical regularity which are almost classical. In the Milo Puget invented a truly French Baroque.

The statue is Baroque in its violence of movement, in the sharp twist of the arm and head, in the naturalism of the tree trunk, which indicates that the artist must have known Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne. But the movement is so carefully controlled that, seen from the front as it is meant to be seen, the whole statue forms a simple silhouette composed of two sets of parallel axes: the legs and left arm forming one set, and the torso, drapery, and tree trunk forming the other. The head and the mask are based on the Laocoon and have the degree of restraint apparent even in that most Baroque of ancient groups.

The Milo was taken to Versailles by Puget’s son, Fran�ois, and arrived there in 1683. After a moment of doubt it was approved by the King and given a prominent position in the gardens at Versailles.

You can view other depictions of Milo of Croton in the Web Gallery of Art.

The statue of Milo of Croton attacked by a lion was placed in the gardens of Versailles in 1683. This is considered as the masterpiece of Puget.

The artist achieves great effects by the contrast between the different planes of the composition� the rock in the foregroung, the ship and the promontory in the background.

This group was executed for King Louis XIV with the collaboration of Christophe Veyrier. It was placed in the garden of the palace of Versailles.

In 1684, Puget signed his Perseus and Andromeda as “P. Puget Massil[iensis] pic[tor] sc[ulptor] arch[itectus]” which shows his uncompromising professional pride - he was indeed painter, sculptor and architect. It was as a sculptor that Puget managed to display his works at Versailles, including the Milo of Croton that he took ten years to produce, followed by Perseus and Andromeda. The pain and alarm of the former was balanced by the triumphant thrust of the latter.

On of Puget’s rare sculptures signed and dated: it was executed in Rome in 1662. During his stay in Rome Puget may see the mature work of Bernini, the Habakuk in the S. Maria del Popolo and the Constantine in the Vatican.

Up to now the head was not identified, Chrysippos, Socrate or Epicure were suggested by scholars.

The sitter of the portrait is Marguerite Cauvin, the artist’s mother. The painting is undated, however, the age of Marguerite Cauvin and the analysis of her garment made it possible to determine the approximate date of it.

The bust was placed in a circular niche on the main fa�ade of Puget’s house built in rue de Rome in Marseille. According to tradition in 1694 it was transferred to the church of the Minorites where, according to his will, he was buried beside his parents. Later the bust disappeared and resurfaced again from a private collection in the 19th century.

The date of the otherwise undated painting was determined by comparing it with the dated (sculpted) portraits and selfportraits of the artist. A slight contraction on the right side of his face and a squinting of his right eye is clearly visible on the picture.

Formerly he painting was erraneously attributed to Fran�ois Puget, the son of the artist.

Puget frequently offered graphics to his friends and patrons. It is assumed that this picture was offered to the valet of Louis XIV.

From its arched form it is assumed that the painting was part of a larger altarpiece.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 21 minutes):

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Missa Brevis (Tu es Petrus)

Puget’s most important works in Genoa were two statues of St Sebastian and the Blessed Alessandro Sauli, made for the Sauli family to decorate the niches in the crossing piers of S. Maria di Carignano, Genoa. In these works Puget comes nearer than at any other time to the feeling of Roman Baroque sculptors and even to Bernini, particularly to his Daniel in the Chigi Chapel in S. Maria del Popolo which he could have seen when he made his second visit to Rome. However, the differences which exist between the two statues are significant. Bernini’s Daniel is more plastic in its conception than Puget’s Sebastian. Daniel surges forward in the movement of prayer, right out of the niche; St Sebastian falls in a pose contained by the plane closing the front of the niche. This refusal of the full Baroque three-dimensional movement is typical of Puget and distinguishes his work from that of Bernini.

In his youth Achilles was handed over to Chiron, a wise and learned Centaur who taught him many arts.

The statue was probably intended for a niche. It is considered also as a representation of King Midas.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 11 minutes):

Claude Debussy: Pr�lude à l’apr�s-midi d’un faune

There is a larger marble version of The Faun in the same museum.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 11 minutes):

Claude Debussy: Pr�lude à l’apr�s-midi d’un faune

The painting, executed during the first years of Puget’s stay in Genoa, represent the scene of the Holy Family resting on flight to Egypt. The composition makes a direct reference to the painting by Van Dyck on the same subject showing at the same time the influence of the Genoese painters Valerio Castello and Domenico Piola.

In 1670 Puget found in the dockyards at Toulon two blocks of marble which had been abandoned there, and after some difficulty he got Colbert’s permission to use them for statues. From them he carved the Milo of Crotona and the relief of Alexander and Diogenes. The relief represents the meeting of Alexander the Great and Diogenes “the Cynic”, the Greek philosopher (about 412 BC-399 BC), which probably occurred at the Isthmian Games. The story goes that Alexander, thrilled to meet the famous philosopher (in his tub), asked if there was any favour he might do for him. Diogenes replied, “Stand out of my sunlight.” Alexander still declared, “If I were not Alexander, then I should wish to be Diogenes.”

This work is the most important marble relief which came from the hand of Puget. It bears the same relation as the Milo to Roman Baroque. The work with which it most obviously challenges comparison is Algardi’s relief of the Meeting of Leo I and Attila in St Peter’s. But the differences are more striking than the similarities. Whereas Algardi lays the emphasis on movement into depth, Puget keeps everything in a series of planes near the surface of the relief and parallel with it. Algardi breaks into the middle of his composition with a vista leading to an indefinite distance, whereas Puget carefully closes his background with an architectural setting. The movement of Algardi’s figures is sinuous and full of contrapposto; Puget’s figures make a series of straight diagonals across the surface of the marble. In fact he seems to turn back once more to his first master, Pietro da Cortona, and to have translated into high relief the latter’s angular, diagonal compositions.

In 1670 Puget found in the dockyards at Toulon two blocks of marble which had been abandoned there, and after some difficulty he got Colbert’s permission to use them for statues. From them he carved the Milo of Crotona and the relief of Alexander and Diogenes. The relief represents the meeting of Alexander the Great and Diogenes “the Cynic”, the Greek philosopher (about 412 BC-399 BC), which probably occurred at the Isthmian Games. The story goes that Alexander, thrilled to meet the famous philosopher (in his tub), asked if there was any favour he might do for him. Diogenes replied, “Stand out of my sunlight.” Alexander still declared, “If I were not Alexander, then I should wish to be Diogenes.”

This work is the most important marble relief which came from the hand of Puget. It bears the same relation as the Milo to Roman Baroque. The work with which it most obviously challenges comparison is Algardi’s relief of the Meeting of Leo I and Attila in St Peter’s. But the differences are more striking than the similarities. Whereas Algardi lays the emphasis on movement into depth, Puget keeps everything in a series of planes near the surface of the relief and parallel with it. Algardi breaks into the middle of his composition with a vista leading to an indefinite distance, whereas Puget carefully closes his background with an architectural setting. The movement of Algardi’s figures is sinuous and full of contrapposto; Puget’s figures make a series of straight diagonals across the surface of the marble. In fact he seems to turn back once more to his first master, Pietro da Cortona, and to have translated into high relief the latter’s angular, diagonal compositions.

In 1670 Puget found in the dockyards at Toulon two blocks of marble which had been abandoned there, and after some difficulty he got Colbert’s permission to use them for statues. From them he carved the Milo of Crotona and the relief of Alexander and Diogenes. The relief represents the meeting of Alexander the Great and Diogenes “the Cynic”, the Greek philosopher (about 412 BC-399 BC), which probably occurred at the Isthmian Games. The story goes that Alexander, thrilled to meet the famous philosopher (in his tub), asked if there was any favour he might do for him. Diogenes replied, “Stand out of my sunlight.” Alexander still declared, “If I were not Alexander, then I should wish to be Diogenes.”

This work is the most important marble relief which came from the hand of Puget. It bears the same relation as the Milo to Roman Baroque. The work with which it most obviously challenges comparison is Algardi’s relief of the Meeting of Leo I and Attila in St Peter’s. But the differences are more striking than the similarities. Whereas Algardi lays the emphasis on movement into depth, Puget keeps everything in a series of planes near the surface of the relief and parallel with it. Algardi breaks into the middle of his composition with a vista leading to an indefinite distance, whereas Puget carefully closes his background with an architectural setting. The movement of Algardi’s figures is sinuous and full of contrapposto; Puget’s figures make a series of straight diagonals across the surface of the marble. In fact he seems to turn back once more to his first master, Pietro da Cortona, and to have translated into high relief the latter’s angular, diagonal compositions.

Puget or his workshop made other versions of this subject in terracotta and marble. This group, showing the influence of Giambologna’s Rape of the Sabines, is considered to be of key importance among the bronze statues of Puget.

The painting belonged to a series of painting with scenes from the Old Testament. The other paintings are lost.

The fragment (the upper part of the relief is missing) was probably a study to a panel of an unidentified altarpiece. The iconography of the relief is related to the painted versions of the subject executed by the Genoese painters of the 17th century, notably Giovanni Andrea Ferrari and Gioacchino Assereto.

The painting was commissioned for a chapel of the Congregation of Gentlemen established in the college of the Jesuites in Aix-en-Provence. The unfinished canvas was executed in the manner of the illustrative Italian paintings of which several examples can be found in the chapels at Aix. It was intended to be part of a series for the lateral wall of the chapel.

The influence of the Dutch marine scenes, notably those of Van de Velde, can be seen on this picture. It is assumed that it represents the firing of a salvo, a subject frequently painted by Dutch masters.

Puget’s reputation as a designer was established by his marine scenes, the collectors of the 17th century highly appreciated these pictures. In 1651 he already mastered the technique of using pen on vellum with the precision of the engraver.

The Dutch influence on the painter is well represented by the small sailing boat at the left side of the picture.

According to the 13th century tradition of the Carmelite Order, the Virgin with the Child appeared to to Simon Stock (1175-1285) and gave him the scapular promising that the pains of the Hell will be relieved by wearing it on the shoulder.

The statue was commissioned by an unknown (probably a Balbi) nobleman for the private chapel in his palace in Genoa. It is surprisingly monumental for a private chapel. The statue, which shows a faint resemblance to Puget’s painting The Holy Family at the Palm-tree, is midway between baroque and classicism.

The Frenchman Pierre Puget made an impact on Genoese sculpture comparable to Bernini’s in Rome. Through his work under Cortona and sporadic visits to Rome in the 1640s and early 1660s, he had an enviable training and was seized upon by the Genoese nobility as an artist who could provide a new impetus for a moribund local school. These expectations were amply fulfilled by his Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, which was designed as the focal point of the centrally planned church of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in Genoa, situated in a charitable foundation for the poor. The theme was a Baroque subject par excellence, reinforcing the Catholic belief in Mary’s freedom from the stain of the original sin. The tableau is highly pictorial in conception and suggests that he had an entr�e into the workshops of Ferrata and Cafà during his time in Rome. The Virgin here displays an expansive, upturned gesture, she stands on the crescent moon and clouds which were her attributes as the Immaculata. Beneath her is a marble arch composed of cherubim and angels, one of whom holds a mirror, the other palm leaves, for the Virgin was the mirror of justice and queen of martyrs. The whole achieves a Berninesque contrast between weightlessness in the soaring figure of the Virgin and the solid medium of stone.

Puget’s capacity to translate such a painterly composition into marble was often imitated but never bettered; his altarpiece of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception was copied by Genoese sculptors and painters alike.