Born in
Geneva (then the Republic of Geneva), Pradier was the son of a Protestant family from
Toulouse. He left for Paris in 1807 to work with his elder brother,
Charles-Simon Pradier, an
engraver, and also attended the
École des Beaux-Arts beginning in 1808. He won a
Prix de Rome that enabled him to study in Rome from 1814 to 1818 at the
Villa Medici. Pradier made his debut at the
Salon of 1819 and quickly acquired a reputation as a competent artist. He studied under
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres in Paris. In 1827 he became a member of the
Académie des beaux-arts and a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts Unlike many of his contemporaries, Pradier oversaw the finishing of his sculptures himself. He was a friend of the Romantic poets
Alfred de Musset,
Victor Hugo,
Théophile Gautier, and the young Gustave Flaubert. His workshop was a meeting place for artists, presided over by his mistress,
Juliette Drouet, who became Victor Hugo's mistress in 1833. After the liaison with Drouet ended, Pradier married Louise d'Arcet (1814–1885), daughter of the French chemist Jean-Pierre-Joseph d'Arcet, in 1833. They had three children: Charlotte (born 27 July 1834), John (b. 21 May 1836), and Thérèse (b. 3 July 1839). Due to her numerous lovers and her complicated financial life, Louise Pradier was among the inspirations for Flaubert when he wrote
Madame Bovary. The cool neoclassical surface finish of Pradier's sculptures is charged with an eroticism that their mythological themes can barely disguise. At the
Salon of 1834, Pradier's
Satyr and Bacchante created a scandalous sensation. Some claimed to recognize the features of the sculptor and his mistress, Juliette Drouet. When the prudish government of
Louis-Philippe refused to purchase it, Count (later Prince)
Anatoly Nikolaievich Demidov bought it and took it to his
palazzo in
Florencethough many years later it would finally be on display in France, part of the
Louvre's collection. Many other sculptures by Pradier are all situated in prominent locations of Paris. At the northeast corner of
Place de la Concorde the allegories of the cities of Lille and Strasbourg were made by him (c. 1835–1838), the four figures of
Fame in the
spandrels of the
Arc de Triomphe, the
Marriage of the Virgin at the
Madeleine (1840), and two allegories of drama from his hand,
la Comédie sérieuse and the
Comédie légère (1844), complete the
Fontaine Molière by architect
Louis Visconti and the writer's portrait in bronze by
Bernard-Gabriel Seurre. as is the
Prometheus Enchained for the
Tuileries Garden, now displayed in the Louvre. His last accomplished work became the twelve individually designed
Victories (begun ca. 1843 until his death) grouped around the
sarcophagus of
Napoleon in the crypt of the
Invalides, representing twelve individual battles the emperor won. For his native Geneva he completed the statue of the Genevan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau erected in 1838 on the tiny
Île Rousseau, where Lac Léman empties to form the
Rhône. Aside from large-scale sculptures, Pradier collaborated with
François-Désiré Froment-Meurice, designing jewelry in a 'Renaissance-Romantic' style. File:Duke Orleans Pradier Louvre RF1721.jpg|Memorial bust of
the duc d'Orléans, bronze (1842),
Louvre File:Lille PdBA pradier satyre.JPG|
Satyr and Bacchante, plaster (1834),
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille File:Estatua en el museo de Orsay, París-edit.jpg|
Sapho (1852),
Musée d'Orsay (RF 2990) Sapho (Détail, de face), James Pradier, 1852.jpg|
Sapho en face, contemplating suicide File:"THE TOILET OF ATALANTA" "JAMES PRADIER OF PARIS" from -Sculptures of Andromeda, the Toilet of Atalanta, Corinna, and a Naiad- MET DP323119 (cropped).jpg|
The Toilet of Atalanta (1850), Louvre (photographed ca. 1859 by
Philip Henry Delamotte at
the Crystal Palace, London) File:James Pradier, l’Industrie. 1851. Pierre. Paris, Palais de la Bourse. Photo, Jamie Mulherron.jpg|
The Allegorical figure of Industry (1851),
Palais Brongniart, Paris Palais du Luxembourg clock and statues.jpg|Allegorical statues flanking the clock of
Palais du Luxembourg 圆顶教堂-拿破仑一世陵墓 ©Paris, musée de l'Armée-edit.jpg|Twelve
Victories (1844–1853) surrounding
Napoleon's tomb, Dome of
Les Invalides File:Bourg-en-Bresse - Monastère royal de Brou - Musée des Beaux-Arts - L'Amour et Psyché (James Pradier) 01-edit.jpg|
Amor and Psyche,
bronze statuette (1850),
Municipal Museum of Bourg-en-Bresse Musée du Vieux Nîmes110.jpg|
Nemausa (lat. for
Nîmes),
porcelain figurine (ca. 1851), Musée du Vieux Nîmes James Pradier is buried in the
Père-Lachaise cemetery. Much of the contents of his studio were bought after his death by the city museum of Geneva. ==Influence==