Barthélemy Prieur

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Barthélemy Prieur (c. 1536-1611) was a French sculptor.

Prieur was born in Berzieux, Champagne (now in the Marne). He traveled to Italy, where he worked from 1564 to 1568 for Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy in Turin. Upon his return to France, he worked principally on funerary monuments and busts, but also on small bronzes.

In 1571 he began employment under Jean Bullant at what is now the Louvre, where he was a contemporary of Germain Pilon. In 1585 he created the monument to Christophe de Thou, now preserved there, and was named sculptor to the king in 1591, under Henry IV of France. He restored the Diana of Versailles in 1602.

Several of his bronzes are preserved in the American National Gallery of Art, including Gladiator, Lion Devouring a Doe, Seated Woman Pulling a Thorn from Her Heel, Small Horse, and Woman Pulling a Thorn from her Heel. His bronze busts of King Henri IV of France and his wife Marie de' Medici (circa 1600) are now in the Ashmolean Museum. His Monument du coeur du connétable Anne de Montmorency is on display in the Louvre.

[edit] References

• Regina Seelig-Teuwen, "Barthélemy Prieur, contemporain de Germain Pilon", Actes du Colloque : Germain Pilon et les sculpteurs français de la Renaissance, Musée du Louvre, 26-27 Octobre 1990, La Documentation française, Paris, 1993.
• Virtual Museum of French Protestantism