(b Montpellier, 31 Dec 1653; d Le Puy, 27 June 1694). French sculptor. He probably trained in the workshop of his father, a carpenter and sculptor. From 1680 or 1681 he was in the service of Armand de Béthune (1635–1703), Bishop of Le Puy, to whose collection of drawings and engravings he probably had access. His career seems to have been spent almost entirely in what is now the département of the Haute-Loire. He worked in a Baroque style moderated by classical influences. He excelled in low relief, as in the surviving fragments of his monument to John III Sobieski, King of Poland (1683–7; Le Puy, Mus. Crozatier and Trésor A. Rélig.) and in the decoration of the Chapelle St Maurice, Le Puy (1687, destr.; fragments Le Puy, Trésor A. Rélig.). Among his extensive production of free-standing statues, both secular and religious, are two Theban Soldiers (Le Puy, Trésor Cathédrale Notre-Dame). He also executed church furnishings, such as the pulpit and organ-case (1690 and 1692) in Le Puy Cathedral, and the carved altarpiece (1693) in the church of St Julien, Brioude. The great number of works known to be by Vaneau suggests that he ran a large workshop, while the numerous anonymous works close to his style to be found in the Haute-Loire make it clear that he was at the head of a considerable local school.