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(4) René-Michel [Michel-Ange] Slodtz
(b Paris, 27 Sept 1705; d Paris, 26 Oct 1764). Sculptor, son of (1) Sébastien Slodtz. In 1724 and 1726 he won second place in the Prix de Rome competitions but nevertheless was sent to study at the Académie de France in Rome in 1728; he soon attracted the attention of the director Nicolas Vleughels, of whom he carved a lively bust (marble, 1736; Paris, Jacquemart-André) and whose tomb he later made (marble, after 1737; Rome, S Luigi dei Francesi). One of his tasks as a student was to carve a marble copy (1731–6) of Michelangelo’s Christ in S Maria sopra Minerva, which earned him his nickname. He stayed at the Académie until 1736, considerably longer than was usual, but eventually set up his own studio in Rome, taking pupils including Jean-François Jansens (b 1702), Jean Tassaert and Charles-François Hutin (1715–76), and he quickly became one of the most important sculptors in the city. Among his commissions from French patrons are busts of Chryses (c. 1737) and Iphigeneia (c. 1737; both marble, Lyon, Acad. Sci., B.-Lett. & A.), the group Diana and Endymion (1735–40; Geneva, priv. col., see Souchal, 1967, pls 14, 15) and a portrait bust of the Duc de Harcourt (1736; priv. col., see Souchal, 1967, pl. 18); those from Roman clients include a bust of Cardinal Corsini (marble, 1737; Rome, Pal. Corsini) and a bas-relief of the Ecstasy of St Theresa (marble, 1738; Rome, S Maria della Scala). Such works, which are vigorous yet elegant and of superb craftsmanship in the working of the marble, reveal the influence of Bernini and Roman Baroque sculpture but are tempered by a characteristically French sense of artistic decorum.
Part of the Slodtz family
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