17th Century Prize 2020 awarded to A. Maral and V. Carpentier-Vanhaverbeke for Antoine Coysevox (1640-1720). The sculptor of the Grand Siècle

The XVII Prize^e century 2020 of the Study Society of the XVII^e century has been attributed to

Alexandre Maral and Valérie Carpentier-Vanhaverbeke

for their work

Antoine Coysevox (1640-1720). The sculptor of the Grand Siècle,

Foreword by Laurent Salomé, Preface by Geneviève Bresc-Bautier,

Paris, Arthena, 2020.

The Prize will be awarded to them on Saturday September 25, 2021 in Paris. The 2019 Prize awarded to Yann Rodier for Reasons for hate, whose celebration has been postponed due to the pandemic, will be postponed at the same time.

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Presentation of the book by the publisher:

Of Lyon origin, Antoine Coysevox (1640-1720) moved to Paris in 1657 and then began a brilliant academic career: assistant professor in 1676, he was the first sculptor to direct the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1703.

From Versailles – with the decoration of the Salon de la Guerre, the grove of the Colonnade or the parterre d’Eau -, to Marly, with the famous equestrian statues of the King’s fame, Coysevox is building his official career on a solid network of relationships, with the support of Le Brun, Colbert and Hardouin-Mansart. His sculpture is at the service of the king for effigies which, in Paris (his moving Louis XIV kneeling de Notre-Dame), Rennes or Dijon, spread the image of a new Alexander.

Sculptor of dukes and peers through his many funerary monuments (including the illustrious tomb of Mazarin at the Institut de France), he is also the portrait painter of the royal family, of renowned artists (Coypel, Hardouin-Mansart, Le Brun) or friends. Qualified as “Rigaud of sculpture”, he was recognized during his lifetime as a genius in the field. The virtuosity of the curls of the wigs, the great sensitivity of the rendering of the marks of age and the expression of the character of each model: everything contributes to portraits of a great naturalness and yet timeless.

Consult the publisher website.

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Since 1984, the Société d’Etude du XVII^e century awards, each year, a XVII Prize^e century with a sum of 2000 euros. With the aim of encouraging the dissemination of rigorous knowledge to the wider public, this Prize rewards, without excluding any discipline, a work dealing with the XVII^e century, published the previous year.

Previous winners:

2019 – Yann Rodier, The Reasons for Hatred. History of a passion in the France of the first XVII^e century (1610-1659), preface by Denis Crouzet, Ceyzérieu, Champ Vallon, coll. “Epochs”, 2019.

2018 – Dictionary of the Netherlands in the Golden Age directed by Catherine Secrétan and Willem Frijhoff, Paris, CNRS Editions, 2018.

2017 – François Friche, Between Earth and Sky. Comic novels and mystery of the Incarnation (1620-1660), Paris, Hermann, 2017.

2016 – Ariane James-Sarazin, Hyacinthe Rigaud. The catalog raisonné, Dijon, Faton Editions, 2016.

2015 (two laureates) – Aude Volpilhac, “The secret to reading well”. Reading and hermeneutics of the self in France in the 17th century^e century, Paris, Honoré Champion, 2015

– Yannick Nexon, Chancellor Séguier (1588-1672), minister, devotee and patron of the Grand Siècle, Paris, Champ Vallon, 2015.

2014 – Nathalie Lecomte, Between courtyards and gardens of illusions. Ballet in Europe (1515-1715), Paris, Center National de la Danse, 2014.

2013 – Sophie Vergnes, The Frondeuses: a female revolt (1643-1661), Seyssel, Champ Vallon, 2013.

2012 – Isabelle Landy, Between Philology and Linguistics: Approaches to Classical Language, Paris, Garnier, 2012.

2011 – Bartholomé Benassar, Velasquez, Paris, De Fallois, 2011.

2010 – Gilles Siouffi, The Genius of the French language. Studies on the imaginary structures of linguistic description in the Classical Age, Paris, Honoré Champion, 2010.

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