Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert
Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert or Jean Pierre Antoine Tassaert (1727, Antwerp – 21 January 1788, Berlin) was a sculptor of Flemish extraction, who, after a successful career in France, became a leading portrait sculptor in Berlin. Life Training Tassaert was born in Antwerp where he was baptised on 19 August 1727. He trained in Antwerp and London. From 1744 he resided in Paris where he studied in the atelier of René-Michel Slodtz, a member of a dynasty of designer-sculptors of Flemish extraction working for the royal court. Career in Paris In 1769 Tassaert was approved (agréé) at the French Académie Royale (which constitutes the first level of admission to the Académie) but he was never received (reçu) as a full member academician. After Slodtz's death in 1764, he emerged as a sculptor in his own right. He exhibited frequently at the Salon, mainly showing small mythological and allegorical figures and groups. His work was well liked by the aristocracy and the Marquise de Pompadour was one of his patrons. He received many commissions and worked at least since the mid-fifties at the Pavilion du Roi of the art-loving general tax collector Etienne-Michel Bouret. Other influential patrons included the "Contrôleur général des finances"