CAFFIERI. - A family of French sculptors of Italian origin.
The founder, Daniele, was born in Sorrento in 1603 and in 1639 served as an engineer to Urban VIII. His son Filippo, born in Rome in 1634 and died in Paris on 7 September 1716, went to France in 1660 and worked especially in decorative sculpture in collaboration with Le Brun; in 1687 he was appointed sculptor to the king’s ships at Le Havre. Filippo had a son, Francesco Carlo, born in Paris on 26 July 1667 and died at Brest on 27 April 1729, who first worked with his father at Versailles and then at Le Havre and Dunkirk as designer and sculptor to the king’s ships. The tenth son, Giacomo, born in Paris on 25 August 1678 and died there on 23 November 1755, left many bronze busts and worked especially as a furniture carver.
Of the seven children of the latter, Filippo, born in Paris on 19 February 1714 and died there on 8 October 1774, besides collaborating with his father in carving, is remembered as an engraver; his brother Gian Giacomo, born in Paris on 30 April 1725 and died there on 21 May 1792, is certainly to be regarded as the finest artist of the family. He was at the French Academy in Rome from 1749 to 1753, then in Naples and other Italian cities. Under the influence of Bernini, he left in Rome, on the high altar of S. Luigi dei Francesi, the stucco group of the Trinity; among his numerous busts are those of Lully, Corneille, Molière, and Rousseau.