Coustou, Family

COUSTOU, FAMILY. - Family of French sculptors. NICOLAS, b. in Lyon on 8 Jan. 1658, d. in Paris on 1 May 1773, was a pupil of his uncle A. Coysevox, but he also studied in Rome, whence he returned to Paris where, besides the works at the Trianon and at Versailles, his principal work must be identified in the part he had, together with his brother Guillaume and his uncle Coysevox, in the so-called "vow of Louis XIII" in the choir of Notre-Dame, where, however, the group of the Deposition (1725) is by his own hand. GUILLAUME, brother of the preceding, b. in Lyon on 25 Apr. 1677, d. in Paris on 2 Feb. 1746. He too was a pupil of his uncle Coysevox, and studied in Rome, where he collaborated with Le Gros on the relief of St. Aloysius Gonzaga in S. Ignazio. This stay of his in Rome undoubtedly helped to confirm him in a Berninian taste that is reflected also in the expressive immediacy of his portraits and in the broad attitudes of his images, among which particular mention should be made of those that line the balustrade of the chapel of Versailles. GUILLAUME THE YOUNGER, b. in Paris on 19 March 1716, d. there on 13 July 1777, also studied in Rome. In Paris he collaborated with his father and then produced many decorative sculptures for villas and gardens, among which the Mars and Venus for the residence of Sans-souci, today in Berlin, acquired great fame.

Emilio Lavagnino