Étienne-Pierre-Adrien Gois

Portrait of Étienne-Pierre-Adrien Gois, a.k.a. Gois the Elder (1731-1823), French sculptor by unknown artist (illegible)

Étienne-Pierre-Adrien Gois, also Étienne Gois le père, (January 1, 1731 – February 3, 1823) was a French sculptor.

Biography

Gois initially studied under Étienne Jeaurat, then went into the workshop of Michelangelo Slodtz. He won the first grand prize for sculpture in 1757, on a bas-relief with the subject Tullie faisant enlever les morts. The prize money allowed Gois to travel to Rome. At the end of his stay at Palazzo Mancini, he executed a bust of la Douleur (Pain), a work that was presented three years later at the Paris Salon to great success.

Returning from Rome where he had fruitful studies, on October 26, 1765 he became an associate of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, graduating on February 23, 1770. On July 27, 1776, the Academy appointed Gois assistant professor. He was then appointed Professor July 7, 1781, replacing Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée (the Elder). In 1788, he gave the Academy a model he carefully executed of a flayed horse. He trained his son Edme-François-Étienne Gois who also became a sculptor.

References

• Simone Hoog (preface by Jean-Pierre Babelon, in collaboration with Roland Brossard), National Museum of Versailles. Sculptures. I-The museum, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, 1993.
• Ferdinand Hoefer, New General Biography, vol. 21, Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1858, p. 86.