Jean Jacques Pradier, better known as James, was one of the pre-eminent Neoclassical sculptors of the early-19th century. Born in Geneva to a French family, Pradier and his two brothers trained as sculptors from a young age. As the most talented of the trio, James was sponsored by Napoleon’s Superintendent of Arts, Dominique Vivant Denon, to study in Paris at the Ecole de Beaux Arts, where he worked with painter Baron Gérard and studied sculpture under François-Frédéric Lemot.
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