Pierre affre et la sculpture toulousaine de mille six cent trente a mille six cent soixante-dix

Pierre affre and toulouse sculpture from sixteen thirty to sixteen seventy

• Auteur / Autrice : Catherine Bourdieu-Weiss
• Direction : Yves Bruand
• Type : Thèse de doctorat
• Discipline(s) : Art et archéologie
• Date : Soutenance en 1994
• Etablissement(s) : Toulouse 2

Résumé

Originaire de beziers, pierre affre arrive a toulouse pendant la deuxieme decenie du dix-septieme siecle. Il travaille plusieurs mois chez artus legoust, le grand sculpteur toulousain du debut du siecle, ou il apprend le travail du marbre. Pourtant, sa carriere est surtout marquee par la realisation d'oeuvres en bois, principalement du mobilier religieux. A cote des commandes du clerge ou des confreries, le sculpteur entreprend regulierement des chantiers pour les capitouls, armoiries ou decors plus grandioses, comme ceux du pont-neuf. Le deroulement de sa carriere montre qu'il a souvent travaille en collaboration avec d'autres artistes, surtout des tailleurs de pierre et des orfevres. De ses deux unions, naissent quinze enfants, dont deux seulement assurent la succession de l'atelier, continuite surtout marquee par l'un de ses gendres, antoine guepin. Bien implante dans la societe toulousaine grace a ses relations familiales, amicales et professionnelles, il cotoie les artistes qui comptent le plus, comme son maitre artus legoust, et sa famille, les peintres hilaire pader et nicolas tournier, ou la corporation des orfevres, a laquelle appartient la famille de sa seconde epouse. Pierre affre appartient a une generation de sculpteurs qui sert de lien entre les premieres recherches formelles et stylistiques du debut du dix-septieme siecle et l'apparition d'une conception plus baroque de la creation en matiere de mobilier religieux. Il prolonge et affirme les solutions mises au point par ses aines, dans des oeuvres tout empreintes d'une elegante sobriete.

Born in beziers, pierre affre arrived in toulouse during the second decade of the seventeen century. He has worked for several months in artus legoust's workshop, the famous toulouse sculptor of early seventeen century, wherre he learned how to work marble. Nevertheless, his career is particularly caracterized by wood works, especially religious furniture. Besides orders of the clergy and brotherhoods, the sculptor regularly made works for the capitouls, armorial bearings or more imposing ornements, like the pont-neuf ornements. The development of his career shows that he often worked with other artists, especially stone-cutters and goldsmiths. He married twice and hart fifteen children. Only two succeded him, and mainly one of his son-in-law, antoine guepin. Because of his professionnal, freindly and familiar relationships, he was introduced in toulouse society, and so he met the most famous artists of the time, who were his master artus legoust, and his family, and also the peinters hilaire pader and nicolas tournier, or the goldsmiths corporate body, whom belonged his second wife family. Pierre affre belongs to the generation of sculptors who made the link between first formal and stylistic researchs of early seventeen century and the begenning of a more baroque conception of religious furniture. He extended and asserted the solutions which his elders had found in works full of an elegant sobriely.