Jean-Pierre Cortot


Jean-Pierre Cortot was a French neoclassical sculptor.

Life

Cortot was born and died in Paris. He was educated at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, and won the Prix de Rome in 1809, residing in the Villa Medici in Rome from 1810 to 1813.
Cortot worked in an austere, correct, academic neo-classical style, heir to both classic French models from the late 18th century and the Greco-Roman tradition. His art took on a more romantic expression toward the end of his life.
Appointed a professor at the École, succeeding Charles Dupaty, he was made a member of the Académie des beaux-arts in 1825, again replacing Dupaty. He was made an Officer of the Légion d'honneur in 1841.
Among his students were Joseph-Marius Ramus, Jean-Jacques Feuchère, Pierre-Charles Simart, Jean-Auguste Barre, and the animalier Pierre Louis Rouillard. A street in Montmartre bears his name, and Cortot's grave can be found in Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Early works and works completed in Rome

Source: WikiPhidias
Winning the Prix de Rome entitled him to study at the Académie de France in Rome and whilst there he completed several works which were sent back to Paris. He remained in Rome for 5 years.
Source: WikiPhidias
NameLocationDateNotes
Bust of Eustache of Saint-PierreMusée des Beaux-arts de Calais.1820Bust of one of the so-called "Burghers of Calais".
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel1820A bas-relief, depicting "Entrevue du roi d'Espagne et du duc d'Angoulême au port Sainte-Marie", was completed by Cortot for the arc's façade. It was deposited with the Louvre but has disappeared. The work was submitted to the Paris Salon in 1827.
Equestrian statue of Louis XIII of France.Place des Vosges Paris1821It was in 1639 that cardinal de Richelieu instructed that a bronze statue should be erected in the middle of the place Royale, partly to help stop the location being used for dueling. The sculptor Pierre II Biard used a cast of a horse intended for a statue of Henri II on which he placed an effigy of Louis XIII which by all accounts was proportionately too big for the horse. The bronze was melted down during the French revolution for the production of canons. In 1825 a new statue was erected, this a white marble work which Cortot had based on a model by Charles Dupaty executed in 1816.
CorneilleHôtel de ville, Rouen1822Cortot's white marble statue stands in the Hôtel de Ville's "Hall d'honneur". The work was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1822.
Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet-Statue of ChristParis1822See "Liste des œuvres classées à Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet".
Monument MalesherbesParis-Palais de Justice1825Work in marble by Bosio depicts Malesherbes with allegories for France and Fidelty. In bas-reliefs below, Cortot depicts Louis XVI visiting Sèze, Malesherbes and Tronchet in prison.
La Résurrection du ChristSuresnes1825Interior Chapelle du Mont-Valérien
Marie Antoinette soutenue par la ReligionChapelle Expiatoire, ParisThis work is held in the Chapelle Expiatoire in Paris. The Musée du Louvre hold the original plaster model
Ecce HomoÉglise Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais, Paris
Sainte CatherineÉglise de Saint-Gervais et de Saint-Protais, ParisThis work was shown at the 1822 Paris Salon.
Notre-Dame de la GardeMarseille1827Cortot's plaster model of the Virgin Mary and Child was used by Jean-Baptiste Chanuel as the basis for his silver statue. The plaster model was shown at the 1827 Salon.
ApollonBordeaux Musée des Beaux-artsThis work was finished off by Cortot after the death of Lemot
Bust of Julie DuvidalBeaux-arts de Paris, l'école nationale supérieure1824Work in plaster
Bust of Charles Dupaty1825There is a plaster copy of this bust in the Musée d'Aquitaine. The marble version is to be seen in the Bordeaux Musée des Beaux-Arts.
GanymèdeMusée des Beaux-arts d'Angers.Marble statue depicts Ganymède and Jupiter.
La Paix et L'AbondanceThe Louvre1824This sculpture can be seen in the Pavillon Marengo - Aile Nord. It was shown at the Paris Salon of 1824
Daphnis and ChloeThe Louvre-Department of Sculptures, Richelieu, ground floor, Cour Puget1827This marble work was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1827 and the plaster model was shown at the Salon 1824 to 1825.
ViergeArrasThis marble statue is in Arras Cathedral.
Vierge à l'EnfantSuresnes1829This limestone statue is located in the Église paroissiale du Coeur-Immaculé-de-Marie. Originally intended for the "chapelle du couvent des pères des missions du mont Valérien", but after a period in the Église paroissiale Saint-Leufroy it was eventually moved in 1908 to Suresnes.
Maréchal Jean Lannes, Duke of MontebelloLectoure1831Statue of one of Naopleon's marshals shown at the Paris Salon in 1831
Le Soldat de Marathon annonçant la victoireThe Louvre-Department of Sculptures, Richelieu, ground floor, Cour Puget1834.This work in marble was subsequently cast in bronze by various foundries including Barbedienne. The plaster version was shown at the Paris Salon in 1822 and the marble version was shown in 1834.
Statues representing Brest and RouenPlace de la Concorde
1836Between 1833 and 1846, the architect Jacques Hittorff was charged with decorating the area around the central obelisk. He installed two fountains, the "Fontaine des fleuves" and the "Fontaine des mers" and eight statues representing the French cities of Brest, Rouen, Nantes, Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon, Strasbourg, and Lille. The statues were placed on pedestals positioned at the corners of an octagon. Cortot executed the Brest and Rouen statues, James Pradier the statues representing Lille and Strasbourg, Louis Petitot those representing Lyon and Marseille, and Louis-Denis Caillouette for those representing Nantes and Bordeaux.
Galerie des Batailles1839Cortot's bust of Jean Baptiste Budes, Baron of Guébriant can be seen in the Château de Versailles' Galerie des Batailles.
PietaDestroyed1840This work was submitted to the Paris Salon of 1840. It was intended for the Église de Notre Dame de Lorette but destroyed in 1871.
La France entre la Liberté et l’Ordre publicPalais Bourbon, Paris1838 to 1841The full title of Cortot's bas-relief in the pediment over the Palais Bourbon is "La France, entre la Liberté et l'Ordre public, appelant à elle les génies du Commerce, de l'Agriculture, de la Paix, de la Guerre et de l'Éloquence". It bears the words
The building is the seat of the French National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French government. Cortot's work replaced the previous sculpture by Evariste Fragonard.
Tomb of Casimir PerierPère LachaiseA large mausoleum was constructed for Casimir Perier in 1837 and it has a statue of Perier by Cortot, who also executed three bas-reliefs on the statue's pedestal representing "l'Éloquence", "la Justice" and "la Force".
Pieta and two angelsParisThis statue is located in Paris' Église Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais. A combined work of both Cortot and Charles-François Leboeuf-Nanteuil. Cortot sculpted the Pieta and Leboeuf-Nanteuil the two angels.
ChristÉglise Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, Paris
Arc de triompheParis1833"Le Triomphe de 1810" celebrates the Treaty of Schönbrunn. This group features Napoleon, crowned by the goddess of Victory. The Arc de triomphe was intended to honour the victory of Napoleon's army at Austerlitz and in fact became a monument celebrating all his achievements. The architects Chalgrin, Joust and Blouet were charged with the monument's design and Cortot, François Rude, Antoine Etex and Pradier were chosen to carry out the sculptural work involved. The Arc de Triomphe has three arches and the main hauts-relief are positioned on its four pillars. François Rude's "le Départ des Volontaires" and Cortot's "Le Triomphe de Napoléon" face the Champs Elysées, and Etex's "La République" and "La Paix" face the Avenue de la Grande Armée. Above these hauts-reliefs are six bas-reliefs recalling the battle of Austerlitz, the funeral of Marceau, the taking of Alexandria, the battle of Jemmapes, the passage of the pont d'Arcole and the battle of Aboukir.
L'ImmortalitéThe Louvre.Département des Sculptures1835The work was intended to replace the cross on the dome of the Panthéon. Corot created a full-scale model in 1835 which was placed in an apse in the Panthéon in 1845, but destroyed in the June uprising of the French Revolution of 1848. In 1860 the Louvre acquired this bronze based on the original drawing by Cortot, and cast by Thiébaut in 1859.

Gallery of images