Jean Baptiste, an eminent French sculptor, was the son of a carpenter, and was born in Paris in 1714. His first efforts in sculpture were rather unpromising. In the school of Lorraine he showed little or no aptitude for the art. Under the tuition of Lemoyne, he was an unsuccessful competitor for the prize of the Academy; and it was only after he had studied for three years the master-pieces of Italy, and had returned to his native city, that he took a high place in his profession. The career of Pigalle then began to be prosperous. A statue of Mercury in 1744 gained for him admittance into the Academy; and an image of the Virgin not long afterwards introduced him to the patronage of Madame de Pompadour. A series of high commissions was the consequence. He was employed by Louis XV. to execute that group of "Mercury and Venus" which was presented to the King of Prussia in 1748, and which is still at Sans Souci. He set up that great master-work, the allegorical tomb of Marshal Saxe, in the church of St Thomas at Strasbourg. He executed a bronze statue of Louis XV., which continued to adorn the town of Rheims till it was destroyed by the republican fury of the Revolution. He was also intrusted with the erection of a tomb to the Duc d'Harcourt in one of the chapels in the church of Notre Dame at Paris. Meanwhile Pigalle had been rising to a high place in the Academy. The office of professor had been conferred upon him in 1752, and that of rector in 1777. He had just attained to the highest dignity, the chancellorship, when he died in 1785.