Clodion

Clodion (klōdēôN`) or Claude Michel (klōd mēshĕl`), 1738–1814, French rococo sculptor. He executed several important commissions under Louis XVI but is best remembered for his bas-reliefs and small figure groups in bronze and terra-cotta representing fauns, nymphs, and children. He is represented in the Louvre and in the Metropolitan Museum.

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Clodion

 orig. Claude Michel

“Female Satyr Carrying Two Putti,” terra-cotta statuette by Clodion; in the Walters Art …

(credit: Courtesy of the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore)

(born Dec. 20, 1738, Nancy, Fr.—died March 29, 1814, Paris) French sculptor. In 1755 he entered his uncle's workshop in Paris, and later he became a student of Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. In 1759 he won the grand prize at the Royal Academy and embarked on a successful career, first in Rome and then in Paris, where he exhibited regularly at the Salon. He excelled at small statuettes and terra-cotta figures of nymphs, satyrs, and groups. After the French Revolution he changed his style to suit the Neoclassical taste for monumentality; he worked on the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (1805–06) and the Vendôme Column (1806–09).