(b Paris, 1732–6; d Paris, 6 May 1795). French sculptor, bronze-caster, designer and engraver. He may have been trained by his cousin JEAN-JOSEPH DE SAINT-GERMAIN. Prieur was accepted as a sculptor in the Académie de Saint-Luc, Paris, in 1765 and became a master bronze-caster and chaser in 1769. In 1766 he collaborated with Victor Louis and Philippe Caffiéri (ii) on decorations for the Royal Castle, Warsaw, providing many designs (U. Warsaw, Lib.) for furniture and furnishing objects and executing some of them (examples in Warsaw, Royal Castle; Detroit, MI, Inst. A.; Paris, Mus. Nissim de Camondo). With Louis he also took part in the redecoration of the choir of Chartres Cathedral. In 1770, on the occasion of the marriage of the Dauphin (later Louis XVI) to Marie-Antoinette, he produced an exceptional clock on the theme of Peace and Abundance (St Petersburg, Hermitage) from a drawing by François Boucher. The clock on the theme of Vigilance (Paris, Louvre) dates from the same period. In 1774 Prieur produced bronze ornaments for the coach used by Louis XVI at his coronation, based on designs by François-Joseph Bélanger, including four allegorical sculptures that also feature in an engraving by Prieur of 1783. In 1776 he supplied bronzes for two mantelpieces designed for the Palais-Bourbon, Paris, by Claude Billard de Belisard ( fl 1722–90). In 1778 major financial losses due to mishandling of funds forced Prieur to move to the Enclos du Temple, Paris, where he continued to operate as a bronze-caster on a much reduced scale, and where his business was more orientated towards the production of bronze ornament. In the 1780s he also published many engravings of ornament, including seven books of arabesques, vases and designs for furniture, as well as Principes de dessin, six plates of scrolling, foliate friezes. He also provided patterns for wallpapers for the factory of Jean-Baptiste Réveillon. Through both his bronzes and his designs, Jean-Louis Prieur played a leading role in the French Neo-classical movement.

• Prieur, Jean-Louis
  • France, §IX, 2(iii)(a): Base metalwork, 1600–1800: Gilt-bronze
  • France, §IX, 2(iii)(a): Base metalwork, 1600–1800: Gilt-bronze
  • Poniatowski: (1) Stanislaw II Augustus Poniatowski
  • collaboration
    • Caffiéri: (3) Philippe Caffiéri (ii)
  • patrons and collectors
    • Poland, §VI: Furniture
  • works
    • Poland, §V: Interior decoration