Claude Michel, aka Clodion (1738 – 1814)  Was a renowned French Master sculptor Born in Nancy, France. In 1755, Clodion went to Paris and was a pupil of J. B. Pigalle. In 1759 he obtained the grand prize for sculpture at the Académie Royale; in 1761 the silver medal for studies from models; and in 1762 he went to Rome. Catherine II of Russia was eager for him to go and stay in St Petersburg, but he returned to Paris. Among his patrons, were the chapter of Rouen, the states of Languedoc, and the Direction Générale. His works were frequently exhibited at the Salon. Among Clodion’s works, that are displayed all over the world, are a statue of Montesquieu and a Dying Cleopatra, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, (London). One of his last groupings represented Homer as a beggar being driven away by fishermen (1810).

Claude Michel works may be seen at: the Art Institute of Chicago, the Bowes Museum (County Durham, UK), the Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh), the Courtauld Institute of Art (London), the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Frick Collection (New York City), the Getty Museum (Los Angeles), the Kimbell Art Museum (Texas), the Louvre (Paris), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Musée Cognacq-Jay (Paris), the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Musée des Beaux-Arts (Bordeaux), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam), the National Gallery of Armenia, the National Gallery of Art (Washington.), the Norton Simon Museum (Pasadena) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.