Jean-Baptiste Pigalle
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Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (January 26, 1714 - August 28, 1785), French sculptor, was born in Paris.
He was the seventh child of a carpenter. Although he failed to obtain the grand prix, after a severe struggle he entered the Academy and became one of the most popular sculptors of his day.
His earlier work, such as "Child with Cage" (model at Sevres) and "Mercury Fastening his Sandals" (Berlin, and lead cast in Louvre), is less commonplace than that of his maturer years, but his nude statue of Voltaire, dated 1776 (initially in the Institut de France, purchased by the Louvre in 1962), and his tombs of Comte d'Harcourt (c. 1764) (Notre-Dame de Paris) and of Marshal Saxe, completed in 1777 (Saint-Thomas Lutheran church, Strasbourg), are good specimens of French sculpture in the 18th century.
His name remains famous because of the Pigalle red-light district in Paris, located around the square of the same name.