Study for The Blessed Alessandro Sauli
Über die Skulptur
A famous preacher from an aristocratic family in Genoa, Sauli (1534-1591) spearheaded important Catholic reforms, including popular missions and restructuring the church to reach a broader spectrum of worshippers. This sculpture is a model for a large statue commissioned by the Sauli family for a Genoese church. Although the open book speaks to Sauli’s work as a reformer, his twisting body and facial expression indicate utter absorption in a deeply personal vision.
Cleveland Museum of Art
Angaben
- Inventarnummer
- 1964.36
Derweil im Leben von Pierre Puget
Das ganze Leben5 September 1661
Fouquet is arrested on Colbert’s accusation
Nicolas Fouquet was arrested and imprisoned on Colbert’s accusation of using government funds for his own purposes. The statue commissioned for his garden was later sent instead to the Château de Sceaux, Colbert’s more modest residence; it is now in the Louvre.
1661–1669
Decides to stay in Italy for a time
He decided to stay in Italy for a time, making long visits to Rome and Genoa; his principal patron there was the nobleman Francesco Maria Sauli. For the French patron Emmanuel Brignole he made a notable statue, “The Immaculate Conception”, for the chapel of an Albergo in Genoa, and he declined the Genoese senate’s proposal to paint their council chamber in order to devote himself to sculpture.
1665
Serious illness: he gives up painting
A serious illness and the advice of his doctors made him abandon painting entirely. Altogether he is recorded as having painted fifty-six paintings, of which nineteen were documented in 1868 as still existing.
1669
Return to France and a dispute with Colbert over his post
He returned to France and divided his time between Toulon and Marseille; offered the post of chief of decoration for the warships, he demanded to be considered an officer, not a worker, and to have the final say over the royal artists Le Brun and Girardon. Colbert found this unacceptable and gave Girardon the commission to decorate the Royal Louis; Puget was instead charged with decorating ten new men-of-war and designing a new headquarters building for the fleet.
