Hercules as Archer

16 October 1620

Born

1640

He sails for Italy: Livorno and Florence

Taking his tools with him, he sailed from Marseille to Livorno and then to Florence in search of a workshop that would employ him as a carver or painter. In Florence he carved some decorative panels and, with a good recommendation from his employer and samples of his paintings, went on to Rome.

1640s

Assistant to Pietro da Cortona in Rome

In Rome he presented himself to Pietro da Cortona, one of the early masters of the Baroque, and assisted him in painting the lavish ceilings of the Palazzo Barberini in Rome and the Palazzo Pitti in Florence. He stayed with Cortona for three years.

1660

Commission from Nicolas Fouquet and a trip to Genoa for marble

The King’s Minister of Finance, Nicolas Fouquet, commissioned sculptures for his new garden at Vaux-le-Vicomte, including a statue of Hercules, Fouquet’s personal symbol, and sent Puget to Genoa to select and bring back the best blocks of marble in person. There the statue known as the Hercules of Gaul was made, with a Genoese sailor as the model.

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.

2 December 1694

Died