A sculptor of Swiss origin, Pradier was spotted by Vivant Denon (1747-1825), who sent him to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1813, he won the the Grand Prix de Rome and so went to Italy, where he spent six years copying the artists of Antiquity. When he returned to Paris, he enjoyed great notoriety and received musicians, poets and writers in his workshop. Pradier reinvented Antiquity, injecting it with a blooming, sometimes provocative sensuality, far removed from the artistic ideals championed by the neo-classicists.
A sculptor of Swiss origin, Pradier was spotted by Vivant Denon (1747-1825), who sent him to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1813, he won the the Grand Prix de Rome and so went to Italy, where he spent six years copying the artists of Antiquity. When he returned to Paris, he enjoyed great notoriety and received musicians, poets and writers in his workshop. Pradier reinvented Antiquity, injecting it with a blooming, sometimes provocative sensuality, far removed from the artistic ideals championed by the neo-classicists.
