This is a list of works by the Swiss-born French sculptor James Pradier (1790–1852). He was best known for his work in the neoclassical style.

Works in cathedrals and churches

Name~ Location Date NotesStatue of Saint PierreÉglise Saint Sulpice. Paris1822Pradier executed a plaster statue of St Peter for this Paris church but it appears to have disappeared."Le martyre de Saint André"Église Saint Roch. Paris1823This work celebrating the martyrdom of Saint André (St Andrew) is located on the left hand side of the church's transept"La Vierge en prière"La Cathédrale Notre Dame des Doms Avignon1838In 1834 Avignon suffered badly from a cholera epidemic and the statue of the Virgin Mary in prayer, her eyes lifted to heaven, was commissioned to acknowledge the Virgin Mary's help in sustaining the people of Avignon during that epidemic. The statue stands in the cathedral's "Chapelle de la Résurrection". It was shown at the Paris Salon of 1838. At the base of the statue are the words "Et etiam interpellat pro nobis" to remind all that the Virgin Mary had intervened for them.La MadeleineParis1842Pradier's "Le Mariage de la Vierge" can be seen near the vestibule and from 1833 to 1834 he also worked on the four bas-reliefs depicting the apostles. These are to be seen in the choir area. Several years earlier Pradier had entered the competition for the huge pediment sculpture on the church's facade but was unsuccessful, Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire receiving the commission. Pradier's entry was entitled "La Madeleine pardonnée par le Christ". It was held in the Musée de Lisieux until destroyed during the Second World War."La Vierge en prière" and other worksÉglise paroissiale Saint-Nicolas, Saint-Marc in Ville-d'Avray1838It was in 1830 that Pradier came to live in Ville d'Avray and in the town's small Roman Catholic church one can see versions of three of his works, "Le Mariage de la Vierge","La Vierge en prière"and the plaster version of the statue of Saint Louis which can be seen in Aigues-Mortes. All three plaster models were gifts given by Pradier to the church in 1840."Pietà"-("Christ sur les genoux de la Vierge")Chapelle Saint-Charles-Borromée de la Pauline in La Garde in Var1847This marble "Pietà" was shown at the 1847 Paris Salon but when no order came from the French State, Pradier tried to interest the authorities in Toulon and Nîmes in the work. In Nîmes a new church, Saint Pauls was being built and the architect was Questel with whom Pradier had worked on the "Fontaine de l'Esplanade". Neither approach had a positive outcome but finally in 1850 the work was purchased by a Madame Farnous and placed in the neo-gothic Chapelle Saint-Charles-Borromée erected between 1850 and 1852 near Toulon. In his composition the Virgin Mary is depicted supporting the body of the dead Christ between her knees. Apart from the "Pietà", Pradier sculpted the bas-relief in the tympanum over the church's entrance which depicts Saint Charles-Borromée administering to the plague victims in Milan ("Saint-Charles Borromée soignant les pestiférés de Milan") and the window over the chapel's entrance has a small ledge on which sits a carving of "L'Ange de la Resurrection". Finally on the two buttresses at each end of the church's façade there are statues of Saint Charles-Borromée and Sainte Thérèse. The Musée d'art et d'histoire in Geneva showed a plaster reduction of the "Pietà" at their 1985-1986 exhibition. Full size copies of the work in plaster are held by the Musée de Vieux-Nîmes and La chapelle de la Maison d'Education de la Légion d'Honneur at Saint Denis.Exhibition catalogue "Statues de Chair.Sculptures de James Pradier" published by Musée d'art et d'histoire .Catalogue for exhibition 17 October 1985-2 February 1986The Stations of the CrossSainte-Clotilde, Paris1850Pradier executed seven bas-reliefs for Sainte-Clotilde's depicting the Stations of the Cross. These were depictions of Pontius Pilate in the act of washing his hands, Christ carrying the Cross, Jesus falling for the first time under the weight of the Cross, Jesus being consoled by his mother, Simon of Cyrène helping carry the Cross, Veronica seeing Christ's image on her veil, and Jesus falling for the second time. When Pradier died the work had not been completed and was finished off by Eugène Lequesne and Jean-Baptiste Claude Eugène Guillaume in 1852."Le Christ en croix"Leningrad1841 to 1844This work in marble was executed for the tomb of Count Paul Demidoff

Public statues and monuments in Paris

Name Location Date NotesBust of Daniel AuberOpéra de Paris1847The whereabouts of the marble bust of this composer, shown at the Paris Salon of 1847, is unknown but the Opéra de Paris (Palais Garnier) hold a plaster model and a bronze replica is on the façade of the Opéra building."L'Industrie"Palais Brongniart1851Outside this building, named after its architect Alexandre Brongniart and now serving as the Bourse de Paris (Stock Exchange) there are four marble allegorical statues including Pradier's "L'Industrie". In his sculpture, the female allegory for "Industry" is seated and has a large hammer slung over her left shoulder whilst her right hand rests on a large cog against which is propped a circular saw and around her are an anvil and a beehive, both symbolising work and a cockerel. The other statues are "La Justice" by François Duret, "Le Commerce" by Augustin Dumont and "L'Agriculture" by Charles Émile Seurre. This building was also known as "Le Palais de la Bourse" and the "Tribunal de Commerce". In 1825-1827 Pradier executed a work in plaster for an earlier project for the Bourse de Paris. The work was entitled "La Fortune publique" and was subsequently destroyed."A horsed Amazon"Cirque d'hiver1840-1841An equestrian statue made from cast iron was executed to decorate the entry to the old Cirque d'été in Paris. Whereabouts of this not known but in 1852 a replica was made, also in cast-iron, and this decorates the Cirque d'hiver."L'lnstruction publique", "La Liberté" and "L'Ordre public"Paris, Assemblée nationale (Chambre des députés)1832 and 1938On the front of the Palais Bourbon, now the site of France's Assemblée nationale, and on either side of Cortot's central relief over the colonnade "La France entre la Liberté et l'Ordre public." are two smaller bas-reliefs. On the right is François Rude's "Prométhée animant les Arts" and on the left is Pradier's "L'Instruction publique". Pradier's relief reflected the recent law framed by François Guizot and passed through the French parliament in June 1833 which made radical changes to France's educational system particularly at the primary stage and in the centre of Pradier's composition a helmeted Minerva recites the initial letters of the alphabet surrounded by several attentive children and the nine muses. To Minerva's left the role of the church in Guizot's law is recorded, with a depiction of a woman holding an open book in which she writes "Écriture Sainte" whilst to her right, a young woman learns to read. The nine muses remind us of the role of science and the arts in education. Earlier in 1832 Pardier completed two sculptures for the "salle de séance" these being entitled "La Liberté" and "L'Ordre public" Decoration on the façade of the Palais du LuxembourgParis1840-1841Pradier was commissioned to execute the decoration around the clock on the facade of the Palais du Luxembourg facing the Palais' gardens and he produced four statues in ronde-bosse "La Sagesse", "L'Eloquence", "La Prudence" and "La Justice", two high-reliefs, "La Guerre" and "la Paix" and three bas-reliefs, "Le Jour", "La Nuit" and "Un Genie". The bas-reliefs surround the clock and "La Nuit" turns her back to the viewer whilst "Le Jour" is shown full face. The "génie" is surrounded by the signs of the zodiac, garlands and bunting. The figures of la Guerre, Sagesse and Eloquence are positioned to the left of Le Jour, la Nuit and the génie whilst Prudence, Justice, and la Paix are to their right.Fontaine MolièreParis1839-1843It was the architect Louis Visconti who designed this monument and Bernard-Gabriel Seurre was commissioned to execute the sculpture of Molière. Pradier's sculpture of Molière was not used but he was asked to execute the two allegorical figures that stand on either side of the pedestal. These, finished in marble, were "la Comédie légère" and "la Comédie sérieuse" ("Light Comedy" and "Serious Comedy") although the names given them in 1844 were "la Muse enjouée" and "la Muse grave". Each figure holds a scroll upon which the names of Molière's works were listed. At the very bottom are lion masks, from which the water pours into a semi-circular basin.Statues representing "Victory" or Napoleon's military campaigns.Paris Les Invalides1843 to 185212 white marble statues surround the tomb of Napoleon in the crypt of Le Dôme des Invalides, l'église du Dôme each having a height of 3.350 metres. The statues are mounted against the crypt's pillars. In the photograph shown below of Napoleon's sarcophagus we see some of these "Victory" statues. The statues represented Napoleon's military campaigns which included the Italian campaign of 1795, the Syrian campaign of 1799, the Polish campaign of 1807, the Spanish campaign of 1808, that of 1809 in Austria, of 1813 in Saxe and of 1814 in France and 1815 in Belgium.Statues representing Lille and StrasbourgPlace de la Concorde Paris1836 to 1838Using the octagonal shape of the Place de la Concorde, the designing architect Jacques Ignace Hittorff had statues constructed at the eight extremities each representing a French city and Pradier was commissioned to execute the statues representing Lille and Strasbourg. The female figure representing Strasbourg sits on a rock, her feet resting on a canon. She exudes haughty defiance, her right hand resting on her hip whilst a sword rests in the crook of her left arm. Lille also sits on a rock and has a sword slung across her shoulder. Interesting to note that after the Franco-Prussian war when Alsace-Lorraine was lost to Germany, the Strasbourg statue was covered in black mourning crepe and thereafter was often covered with wreaths, a practice which did not end until France regained the region after the 1914-1918 war. A photograph of the Strasbourg statue is shown below and that of Lille appears in the gallery at the end of the article.

The other statues are Brest and Rouen by Jean-Pierre Cortot, Lyon and Marseille by Pierre Petitot and Bordeaux and Nantes by Louis-Denis Caillouette."Les Renommées" - L'Arc de triomphe de Étoile.Paris1829Pradier was commissioned to execute four bas-reliefs for the spandrels or cornerstones of the central arcade of the Arc de Triomphe and chose these winged Greek allegories as subjects. The tensions following the 1830 revolution had meant that Pradier lost the commission for the reliefs on the Arc du Carrousel so the Arc de Triomphe commission was a slight compensation for this although he was not given the more substantial commissions for the larger arch which went to Rude, Cortot and Etex. The sculptor did in fact prepare a maquette in 1834 for a sculpture to adorn the top of the monument but was never given the commission. This maquette was entitled "La France distribuant des couronnes". He executed another composition for the top of the arc called "Apothéose de Napoléon 1" but this was not used. Plaster models of the "Renommées" were held in the Musée de Lisieux but were destroyed during the Second World War.

Busts and statues of Louis Philippe I and other members of Royal family