VALADIER, Luigi - b. 1726 Roma, d. 1785 Roma

Italian sculptor, member of a dynasty of silversmiths who worked for the city’s leading families and important foreigners. Luigi Valadier was the son of the French-born Andrea Valadier (1695-1759), who had settled in Rome in 1714, where he learned the silversmith’s art. After his father’s death in 1759, Luigi managed the workshop with his brother Giovanni (1732-1805). The Valadier workshop produced scaled-down copies of classical prototypes for eighteenth-century collectors.

Luigi became a Master Goldsmith in 1760. Among his clients was Pope Pius VI, who visited Valadier’s workshop four times, as well as Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, Karl IV, and Elector Palatine. He also received commissions from churches throughout the world – his works being found in Mexico, Spain and Austria as well as throughout Italy. Despite this distinguished clientele, however, Luigi drowned himself in the Tiber in 1785, possibly as a result of heavy debt.