Coustou [key], family of French sculptors. Nicolas Coustou, 1658–1733, studied with his uncle, Antoine Coysevox, with whom he later collaborated on the decorations at Marly and at Versailles. He became rector and chancellor of the Académie royale. Among his best-known works are La Seine et la Marne (Tuileries Gardens) and the bas-relief, Passage du Rhin (Louvre). His brother, Guillaume Coustou, 1677–1746, also studied with Coysevox and in Rome. Returning to Paris, he worked at Versailles and at Marly. He is famous for his colossal group, The Ocean and the Mediterranean, at Marly, and above all for his exuberant Horses of Marly at the entrance of the Champs Élysées, Paris. His son Guillaume Coustou, the younger, 1716–77, was also a noted sculptor.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: European Art, 1600 to the Present: Biographies
