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Toro [Turreau], (Jean-)Bernard(-Honoré)
(b Dijon, 28 Nov 1661; d Toulon, 28 Jan 1731). French sculptor and designer. He was probably taught by the sculptor Pierre Puget, and worked as a sculptor on royal ships from the end of the 1670s. He lived at Arles from 1686 (working notably at the Charterhouse of Villeneuve-les-Avignon), and between 1700 and 1718 at Aix-en-Provence, where most of his extant works are located. In 1718 he obtained the post of Maître Sculpteur au Port de Toulon and was in charge of sculpture for the royal vessels. He was an outstanding draughtsman and is known above all for his work as a designer and sculptor of ornaments (e.g. Paris, Ecole N. Sup. B.-A.; Paris, Mus. A. Déc.; Paris, Bib. N.; Rouen, Mus. B.-A.; Avignon, Mus. Calvet; Berlin, Kstbib. & Mus.; Stockholm, Nmus.). He produced a series of drawings of 25 suites, each comprising 6 plates, of vases, grotesques, tables, liturgical objects, friezes and ceilings, some of which were engraved by Honoré Blanc and Balthazar Pavillon (1649–1729) in Aix, and by Charles-Nicolas Cochin I and Pierre de Rochefort (1673–1728) in Paris. He was inspired by the art of the Renaissance and one of his favourite themes was that of fantastic beings entangled in foliage, from which their angry or sorrowful heads and their helpless wings emerge. Through his engravings, Toro was very influential on French, German and English decorative arts during the first half of the 18th century.
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