Pierre Puget, 1620-1694

Born in Marseille, trained in Italy and active in Provence and Genoa, Pierre Puget was a major sculptor of the century of Louis XIV. The artist created sculpture that was original in its power, dynamism and rendering of expression, pain or grace, and left a complex body of work, dominated by imposing sculptures, including the dramatic Milon de Crotone, now in the Louvre, the Atlantes in the Toulon town hall, and the marbles in the churches of Genoa. As an architect, he designed the Vieille Charité hospice in Marseille, the flagship of his work as a builder.

The fruit of 40 years of study and research by Klaus Herding (1939-2018), this imposing four-volume work, edited by Geneviève Bresc, General Curator of the Sculpture Department at the Musée du Louvre, offers a vast overview of Puget's life and place in the society of his time (vol.1&2), supported by a catalogue raisonné of his attributed, lost or rejected works (vol.3) and numerous appendices (vol.4). The critical fortunes of the artist and the work of his emulators, the Veyriers, are also analysed in detail.