Jean-Baptiste LEMOYNE (Paris 1704-1778) Academy of a man pulling a rope from behind, 1752 Black pencil, blur and white chalk highlights. Signed and dated lower left. (Glued on its old mounting). 58 x 44 cm Born in Paris in 1704, Jean-Baptiste II Lemoyne came from an important dynasty of sculptors, with his father Jean Louis Lemoyne and his uncle Jean Baptiste I Lemoyne. He trained at the Royal Academy where his master was Robert Le Lorrain, and won the first prize of Rome for sculpture in 1725. However, he renounced to leave for the Eternal City in order to work alongside his father. In 1731, he received his first important royal commission, for a monumental equestrian statue of Louis XV, which was to be placed in the center of the royal square in Bordeaux. From the 1750s on, Lemoyne refocused on sculpted portraits of the great men of his time. Unfortunately, Lemoyne's large bronze sculptures were melted down during the Revolution to make cannons. They are often known only through engravings or reductions.