Martin Desjardins

He was born at Breda, the son of a milliner in a house that would later carry the name \'de Drye Bredasche Hoeden\' ("the Three Hats from Breda"). His early training was at Antwerp with the sculptor Pieter Verbruggen (1615–1686), while his mature career was spent at Paris, where he was working from the 1650s. His early Paris work was in decorative stucco reliefs, at the Hôtel d’Aubert de Fontenay (Hôtel Salé) and the Hôtel de Beauvais (staircase). He was accepted in 1661 into the Académie de St Luc as "Martin Desjardins" (a translation of his Dutch name "of the orchard"), and gained a reputation executing private commissions for funerary monuments. In 1671 he was received as a member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture on the basis of a marble relief of Hercules Crowned by Glory (Musée du Louvre).\n', '

From this time he received royal commissions, at Les Invalides and at…