MONNOT, Pierre Etienne
(b. 1657, Orchamps-Vennes, d. 1733, Roma)

Biography

French sculptor, active in Italy. His father, a wood-carver, moved with his family to Besançon when Monnot was still a child. Monnot was taught to carve by his father, and at the age of 19 he moved to Dijon, where he was apprenticed to the sculptor Jean Dubois. Although he spent the years 1677-87 in Paris, his professional career was passed almost entirely outside France. His earliest dated work is a group of five small marble reliefs (1688) for the Hôtel de Ville at Poligny, Jura (in situ).

After his training in France Monnot gravitated to Rome where he made copies after antique sculptures as well as after paintings by the Bolognese artists Francesco Albani and Domenichino. His most important works are in the San Giovanni in Laterano (Sts Peter and Paul) and in St Peter's (Tomb of Pope Innocent XI).