COUSTOU, FAMIGLIA

COUSTOU, FAMILY. - Family of French sculptors. NICHOLAS, b. in Lyon on 8 Jan. 1658, d. in Paris on 1 May 1733, was a pupil of his uncle A. Coysevox, but also studied in Rome, from where he returned to Paris. Besides works at the Trianon and Versailles, his principal work is to be found in the part he executed, together with his brother William 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 entirely his own. WILLIAM, brother of the preceding, b. in Lyon on 25 Apr. 1677, d. in Paris on 2 Feb. 1746. Also a pupil of his uncle Coysevox, he studied in Rome, where he collaborated with Le Gros on the relief of St. Aloysius Gonzaga in S. Ignazio. This Roman sojourn undoubtedly confirmed him in a Berninesque taste, which is reflected in the immediate expressiveness of his portraits and in the broad gestures of his figures, among which those on the balustrade of the chapel at Versailles are particularly noteworthy. WILLIAM THE YOUNGER, b. in Paris on 19 Mar. 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 at Sanssouci, now in Berlin, gained great fame.