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(1) Pierre Legros (i)
(b Chartres, bapt 27 May 1629; d Paris, 10 May 1714). Sculptor. A pupil of Jacques Sarazin, he was received (reçu) in 1666 as a member of the Académie Royale, with a marble bas-relief of St Peter (Versailles, Notre-Dame). He was principally employed by the Bâtiments du Roi on the sculptural decoration of the château and gardens of Versailles. Within the constraints imposed by the designs and models supplied by Charles Le Brun and François Girardon, his numerous works of sculpture display a distinctive personality of sensual charm and high spirits. His earliest works for Versailles were six gilded lead fountains for the Allée d’Eau, consisting of exuberant groups of children, satyrs and tritons (1668–70, destr.; bronze replicas, 1688, in situ) composed with great sureness and freedom. He contributed similarly lively groups of children to the Demi-lune du Dragon (gilt lead, 1678–80, destr.; bronze replicas, 1688, in situ) and nymphs and children to the Parterre d’Eau (bronze, 1685–6; in situ). In addition he contributed lead bas-reliefs to the Bain des nymphes (1670; in situ) and a grotesque statue of Aesop and several animals from the Fables to the Labyrinthe (lead, 1672–6; Versailles, Château).
Part of the Legros family
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