Editing James Pradier (section)

==Life and work==
[[File:Jean-Baptiste Marie Fouque--Portrait of James Pradier--1848--Geneva.jpg|thumb|left|[[Jean-Baptiste Marie Fouque]], Portrait of Pradier, 1848.]]Born in [[Geneva]] (then the Republic of Geneva), Pradier was the son of a Protestant family from [[Toulouse]]. He left for Paris in 1807 to work with his elder brother, [[Charles-Simon Pradier]], an [[engraver]], and also attended the [[École des Beaux-Arts]] beginning in 1808. He won a [[Prix de Rome]] that enabled him to study in Rome from 1814 to 1818 at the [[Villa Medici]]. Pradier made his debut at the [[Salon of 1819]] and quickly acquired a reputation as a competent artist. He studied under [[Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres]] in Paris. In 1827 he became a member of the ''[[Académie des beaux-arts]]'' and a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts<ref name=Kjellberg>{{cite book|last1=Kjellberg|first1=Pierre|title=Bronzes of the 19th Century|date=1994|publisher=Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.|location=Atglen, Pennsylvania|isbn=0-88740-629-7|pages=554–558}}</ref>

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Pradier oversaw the finishing of his sculptures himself. He was a friend of the Romantic poets [[Alfred de Musset]], [[Victor Hugo]], [[Théophile Gautier]], and the young Gustave Flaubert. His workshop was a meeting place for artists, presided over by his mistress, [[Juliette Drouet]], who became Victor Hugo's mistress in 1833. After the liaison with Drouet ended, Pradier married Louise d'Arcet (1814-1885), daughter of the French chemist Jean-Pierre-Joseph d'Arcet, in 1833.<ref name=Kjellberg /> They separated in 1845, after Pradier had become aware of her infidelities.<ref>[http://www.juliettedrouet.org/lettres/spip.php?page=article&id_article=5135 Louise d'Arcet.] ''in' Édition des Lettres de Juliette Drouet à Victor Hugo.</ref> They had three children: Charlotte (born 27 July 1834), John (b. 21 May 1836), and Thérèse (b. 3 July 1839). Due to her numerous lovers and her complicated financial lfe, Louise Pradier was among the inspirations for Flaubert when he wrote ''[[Madame Bovary]]''.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louise-Pradier inspiration for Flaubert’s Madame Bovary.] Encyclopaedia Britannica.</ref>

[[File:Sappho at a column, 1884, Mougins, © Musée d'art classique de Mougins.png|thumb|upright|''Sappho at a column'', 1884, [[Mougins Museum of Classical Art]]]]

[[File:Lille PdBA pradier satyre.JPG|thumb|left|''Satyr and Bacchante'' (1834)]]
[[File:James Pradier, l’Industrie. 1851. Pierre. Paris, Palais de la Bourse. Photo, Jamie Mulherron.jpg|left|thumb| ''The Allegorical figure of Industry'' (1851), Paris, [[Palais Brongniart|Palais Brogniart]]]]
[[file:Duke Orleans Pradier Louvre RF1721.jpg|thumb|upright|Memorial bust of [[Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans|the duc d'Orléans]], 1842 (Louvre Museum)]]
[[file:Paris - Dôme des Invalides - Tombeau de Napoléon - 002.jpg|thumb|''Victories'' surrounding [[Napoleon's tomb]], [[Les Invalides]]]]
The cool neoclassical surface finish of Pradier's sculptures is charged with an eroticism that their mythological themes can barely disguise. At the [[Salon of 1834]], Pradier's ''Satyr and Bacchante'' created a scandalous sensation. Some claimed to recognize the features of the sculptor and his mistress, Juliette Drouet.  When the prudish government of [[Louis-Philippe of France|Louis-Philippe]] refused to purchase it, Count (later Prince) [[Anatoly Nikolaievich Demidov, 1st Prince of San Donato|Anatoly Nikolaievich Demidov]] bought it and took it to his [[Villa di Pratolino|palazzo]] in [[Florence]]{{snd}}though many years later it would finally be on display in France, part of the [[Louvre]]'s collection.

Other famous sculptures by Pradier are the figures of Fame in the spandrels of the [[Arc de Triomphe]], decorative figures at the [[Église de la Madeleine|Madeleine]], and his twelve ''Victories'' inside the dome of the [[Invalides]], all in Paris. For his native Geneva he completed the statue of the Genevan [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] erected in 1838 on the tiny [[Île Rousseau]], where Lac Léman empties to form the [[Rhône]]. Aside from large-scale sculptures, Pradier collaborated with [[François-Désiré Froment-Meurice]], designing jewelry in a 'Renaissance-Romantic' style.

James Pradier is buried in the [[Père-Lachaise]] cemetery. Much of the contents of his studio were bought after his death by the city museum of Geneva.