Biography

Claude Michel, better known as Clodion, was born in Nancy. He was the tenth child in the family of hereditary Lorraine sculptors and decorators, the Adams. He received his first lessons from his father, court master of the Prussian king Thomas Michel. In 1755, he moved to Paris to live with his uncle, Lambert Adam. After his death, the young man continued his studies in the workshop of Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, and then at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. In 1762, the received Grand Prix de Rome and went to Italy to study antique art.

It was in Italy that the mature individual style of Clodion took shape. His creative legacy forms the realm of carefree childhood and happy adolescence, as if seen in terms of ancient Greco-Roman myths. The best known art works of the artisan are chamber terracottas and bronzes depicting enchanting Nymphs, daring Satyrs, airy running Bacchantes and playing Cupids. His responsiveness to the time requests, combined with the internal view of life latitude and a special technical skills, brought the sculptor high popularity. His works were acquired by a wide range of European customers from Empress Catherine the Great to Marie Antoinette.

After returning to France in 1773, Clodion was elected a member of the Académie Royale. In 1782, he married Catherine Flor, daughter of the sculptor Augustin Pajou. The sculptor regularly exhibited his works at  Paris Salons. In addition to small statuettes, he created vases, reliefs, tombstones, large statues and public monuments, as well as designing interiors and developing porcelain products for the Manufacture nationale de Sevres. Clodion left his mark in history of art as a sculptor that embodied the best artistic ideas and philosophy of the Rococo style in his creative art.

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