COYSEVOX, Antoine
(b. 1640, Lyon, d. 1720, Paris)

Mercury

1702
Marble
Tuileries Garden, Paris

In the late seveteenth century the promotion of the Sun King and the progress of Versailles brought about an increase in the quantity of sculpture in France, rather than any fundamental change in the Italian classical traditionwhich has persisted since Fontainebleau. The great impetus of Versailles was towards decorative, and especially garden sculpture. Only a handful of the many sculptors working at that time are well known today, among them Coysevox.