Philippe Bertrand

Philippe Bertrand (b. 1663, d. 1724) [Bertrand's date of death is sometimes given as 1724, but just as often is given as 1704.] was a French sculptor of the late 17th and early 18th century. He received commissions for sculptures for both the Château de Marly and the Palace of Versailles. In November, 1701, he was made a full member of the Académie de peinture et de sculpture upon the display of his small bronze of the "Rape of Helen", a svelte composition of three figures with a debt to Giambologna's "Rape of a Sabine Woman". [The bronze is conserved at the Musée de Fontainebleau.] He was known for sculpting flowing, graceful, and even flying figures, particularly in his bronzes. [cite book | last = Levey | first = Michael | title = Painting and Sculpture in France 1700-1789 | publisher = Yale University Press | date = 1995 | location = New Haven | pages = 80 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=05qiZ2W9KFMC | isbn = 0-300-06494-2]

In 1714, when the choir of Notre-dame was refurbished in academic Baroque manner, in Louis XIV's fulfillment of a vow made by Louis XIII, [The decor, in which the prominent court sculptors of the period 1708–13 collaborated, was removed after the French Revolution, as inconsistent with the cathedral's Gothic interior and too redolent of the Ancien Régime (Wallace Collection website)] Bertrand was commissioned to provide a small allegorical bronze as the prize for a poetry competition, organised by the Académie française to celebrate the completion of the project; it is conserved in the Wallace Collection, London. [ [http://www.wallacecollection.org/whatson/treasure/64 The Wallace Collection: Philippe Bertrand, "Allegory commemorating the Accomplishment of the Vow of Louis XIII," 1714 (S176)] : The runner-up in the competition was the young Voltaire, who savaged the winner in an acerbic public letter.]

Two further small collectors' bronzes by Bertrand are in the Royal Collection, "Psyche and Mercury" and "Prometheus Bound"; they are characteristic purchases of George IV. [ [http://royalcollection.org.uk/eGallery/maker.asp?maker=BERTRAND The Royal Collection: Philippe Bertrand] .]

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