COUSTOU, the name of a famous family of French sculptors. Nicholas Coustou (1658-1733) was the son of a wood-carver at Lyons, where he was born. At eighteen he removed to Paris, to study under Coysevox, his uncle, who presided over the recently-established Academy of Painting and Sculpture; and at three-and-twenty he gained the Colbert prize, which entitled him to four years education at the French Academy at Rome. He afterwards became rector and chancellor of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture. He was remarkable for his facility; and though he was specially influenced by Michelangelo and Algardi, his numerous works are among the most typical specimens of his age now extant. The most famous are the Union of the Seine and Marne and the Berger Chasseur in the gardens of the Tuileries, and the Descent from the Cross placed behind the choir altar of Notre Dame; he also supplied a large number of statues to Versailles and Marly....
His younger brother, Guillaume Coustou (1678-1746), was a sculptor of still greater merit. He also gained the Colbert prize; but refusing to submit to the rules of the Academy, he soon left it, and sor some time wandered houseless through the streets of Rome. At length he was befriended by the sculptor Legros, under whom he studied for some time. Returning to Paris, he was in 1704 admitted into the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, of which he afterwards became director; and, like his brother, he was employed by Louis XIV. His finest works are the famous group of the Horse Tamers in the Champs Elysées at Paris, the Ocean and Mediterranean at Marly, the bronze Rhône which formed part of the statuo of Louis XIV. at Lyons, the façade of the Chateau d’Eau, and the bas-reliefs of the entrance of the Hôtel des Invalides. His work is specially distinguished by its fire and energy.
Guillaume Coustou, the younger (1716-1777), the son of Nicholas, also studied at Rome, as winner of the Colbert prize. While to a great extent a copyist of his predecessors, he was much affected by the bad taste of his time, and produced little or nothing of permanent value.
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