Jean-Jacques Caffieri (Apr 29, 1725 - Jun 22, 1792) was a French sculptor. He was appointed sculpteur du Roi to Louis XV and later afforded lodgings in the Galeries du Louvre. He designed the fine rampe d'escalier which still adorns the Palais Royal. He is better known for his portrait busts, in terracotta or marble: his bust of Madame du Barry is at the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. He made a name with his busts of Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine for the foyer of the Comédie Française.
He was born in Paris and came from a family of sculptors from Italy, who had moved to France during cardinal Mazarin's regency. His father Jacques Caffieri and his elder brother Philippe Caffieri were also sculptors. Jean-Jacques remained unmarried and had no children. A pensionary at the Villa Medici in Rome from 1749 to 1753, as well as a student of François Lemoyne, he joined the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in France in 1757. He produced bust or portraits of many great men, notably Pierre Corneille, Thomas Corneille, Philippe Quinault, Jean de la Fontaine and Jean-Philippe Rameau, as well as the monument to Richard Montgomery in St. Paul's Chapel in New York City. His students included Jean-Joseph Foucou.
For donating his busts of actors and playwrights to the French national theater, the Comédie Française, Jean-Jacques Caffieri, an avid theatergoer, gained free entry for life. His habit of making casts from his marble sculptures and giving them to institutions was fortuitous, for many of Caffieri's marbles were lost in a fire in 1761. Belonging to the third generation of a family of sculptors and bronzeworkers who had come from Italy in the previous century, Caffieri was the younger brother of bronzeworker Philippe Caffieri. Jean-Jacques won the Prix de Rome in 1748 and spent four years in Rome studying ancient art. When he returned to Paris, he became sculptor to Louis XV and provided ornamental designs for metalwork, notably for the staircase at the Palais-Royal, a famous Parisian royal residence. He made his name, however, with a series of portrait busts of contemporaries like Madame du Barry and famous dramatists of the past.
Caffieri insisted on absolute fidelity to the model's features, and his talent lay in making these features come alive. He captured the kindness of astronomer Canon Pingre as well as the fierce countenance of Doctor Borie. French philosopher and art critic Denis Diderot declared Caffieri's Doctor Borie "a good enough likeness to make a patient die of fear."
http://hisour.com/artist/jean-jacques-caffieri/
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