Puget, Pierre

Puget, Pierre (pyĕr püzhā`), 1622–94, French painter and sculptor. At 17 he went on foot to Italy, where he worked for Pietro da Cortona on the ceilings of the Barberini and Pitti palaces. Much of his work is in S France and in Italy, where he worked. His famous statue of St. Sebastian is in Genoa. He made paintings for the churches of Aix-en-Provence and Toulon, but gradually devoted himself wholly to sculpture. From 1655 to 1658, Puget carved the caryatids for the town hall of Toulon. He also executed commissions for Fouquet. Puget used skillful variations on the Italian baroque idiom, ranging from the expressive contortions of his caryatids to the controlled form of his Milo of Crotona (Louvre).

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Puget, Pierre

(born Oct. 16, 1620, at or near Marseille, France—died Dec. 2, 1694, Marseille) French sculptor, painter, and architect. As a young man he was employed by Pietro da Cortona to work on the ceiling decorations of the Pitti Palace in Florence. Thereafter he worked chiefly in France as a painter and sculptor. While his work is in the tradition of Roman Baroque, such sculptures as Milo of Crotona (c. 1671–82), in which the athlete is attacked by a lion while his hand is caught in a tree stump, show a strain and anguish that suggest the works of Michelangelo.