Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne (French, 1704–1778)

b. 1704 — d. 1778

Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne was a nephew of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne (1679-1731), a sculptor, and son on Jean Baptiste Lemoyne (1664-1755), a sculptor of note. Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne II's training was completely French. He studies with his father and Robert Le Lorrain, whose career was so closely linked with the Rohan family. In 1725 he won first prize for sculpture which carried with it the privilege of studying at the French Academy in Rome. Because of domestic troubles, he could not take advantage of this, and his entire life, with the exception of brief sojourns was spent in Paris. He was received in the Academy in 1728 and ended by being made its director in 1768 in succession of the painter François Boucher. He was engaged in some monumental projects, but his fame rests in his series of portrait busts. He belongs in the distinguished group which includes Houdon, Pigalle, Caffieri, and Pajou, the last being one of his pupils. His portraits are characterized by directness and lack of affectation and combine with sympathetic understanding of the sitters and ubobtrusiveness and dignified idealism.