SARAZIN, Jacques
(b. 1588, Noyon, d. 1660, Paris)

Temperance

c. 1645
Marble
Musée du Louvre, Paris

Sarrazin was chief among the sculptors working under Louis XIII, and one of the founders of the Academy. He spent eighteen years in Rome (1610-1628). The Temperance is one of four medallions of the cardinal virtues that ornamented the monument of the heart of Louis XIII, erected by his widow, Anne of Austria. The pictorial style of the relief is expressed through forms transposed from the antique and linked by elegant, sinuous outlines. Some of the details give the composition a picturesque and naturalistic character. The work is representative of the art of Sarrazin and his school.