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(1) Philippe [Filippo] Caffiéri (i)
(b Rome, 1634; d Paris, 7 Sept 1716). Sculptor, wood-carver and bronze-founder. In 1660 he was summoned to Paris by Cardinal Mazarin. There he was based at the Gobelins manufactory, where he was associated with Domenico Cucci (1635–1705) and worked for the Bâtiments du Roi under Charles Le Brun. In 1665 he was described in his naturalization papers as ‘Sculpteur Ordinaire des Meubles de la Couronne’. He was principally a wood-carver, contributing decorative carving to the Tuileries (1666) and the Louvre (1668)—sometimes working in collaboration with Mathieu Lespagnandelle (1617–89)—and also to the Château de St-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines, where in 1669 he provided carvings for the chapel; none of this work survives. At Versailles he executed many carvings, most notably for the sumptuous Appartement des Bains of Louis XIV and for the queen’s oratory (both destr.), as well as providing carved doors and furniture for the king’s apartments. He seems also to have specialized in frame-making and between 1682 and 1683 was paid for 50 frames for paintings in the Cabinet du Roi. The carved and gilded frames on Guido Reni’s series of the Labours of Hercules (Paris, Louvre) have been attributed to him. In 1680 he provided bronze architectural ornaments after models by Le Brun in the Galerie des Glaces (in situ), Versailles, and bronze Ionic capitals for pilasters on the Escalier des Ambassadeurs (destr. 1750). In 1687 he was appointed Maître-sculpteur to the royal fleet at Le Havre. His work is typical of the ponderous and magnificent style evolved by Le Brun and his associates for Louis XIV.
Part of the Caffiéri family
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