Le Chef de saint Jean-Baptiste

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.

1655

First major commission: the entrance of Toulon’s town hall

He received his first important commission, for the sculptural decoration of the entrance of the Hôtel de Ville in Toulon: a porch supported by muscular atlantes. His models were two of the muscular workers who unloaded ships on the quay in front of the building.

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.

1660

Refuses Colbert out of obligation to Fouquet

While preparing his voyage he received several proposals for sculptural projects from Jean-Baptiste Colbert, secretary to Cardinal Mazarin, but refused them because of his obligations to Fouquet. Colbert did not forget the slight.

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