Pierre Louis Rouillard

Pierre Louis Rouillard (; Paris, 16 January 1820 – Paris, 2 June 1881) was a French sculptor known for his sculptures of animals. He was one of a "school of French animalières", which also included Pierre-Jules Mêne, Antoine-Louis Barye, Auguste Caïn and François Pompon. He worked mainly in cast iron rather than bronze.

Rouillard attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was a pupil of Jean-Pierre Cortot. He was a professor of sculpture at the École des Arts décoratifs from 1840 to 1881. François Pompon studied with him.

His works include sculptures for the Opéra de Paris, Palais du Louvre and the Fontaine Saint-Michel. He was commissioned to travel to Istanbul, by Sultan Abdulaziz. He has many sculptures in different locations of Istanbul, including a bull sculpture at the center of Istanbul's Kadıköy district. He was awarded the Ordre des Palmes Académiques and made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. He is buried at Issy.

Works Name Location Date Notes"Lion de l'Indie" Quinta da Regaleira1837This was the year that Rouillard enrolled at the Paris Beaux-Arts as a pupil of Jean Pierre Cortot. This work was his first submission to the Paris Salon. Ivory carving of animals on a tankard.RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre)1840Here Rouillard worked with silversmith François-Désiré Froment-Meurice on an ornate tankard with an ivory carving of lions on the attack. "Chasse au sanglier"Whereabouts not known1841In 1842, this work was exhibited at the Paris Salon and was awarded a "médaille de 3ème classe". This was the year that Rouillard left the École des Beaux-Arts. "Renard et lapins"Whereabouts not known.1852This study of a fox and rabbits was in plaster EaglesThe Louvre1861Rouillard finished his work at the Louvre with the carvings of eagles. He also carried out work for the silversmith Christofle which included a cup/trophy depicting Ceres, the compositions "Moutons à tête noire", "Moutons et bélier" and "Vache normande" "Tete du cheval Ajax monté par l'Empereur à Solférino"Whereabouts not known1863 "Taureau"KadıköyIsadore Jules Bonheur was one of the team of sculptors who worked on the Sultan's order and under the direction of Rouillard. This sculpture of a bull was shown at the Éxposition universelle of 1878 in Paris and editions can be seen in many parts of the world including the Istanbul suburb of Kadıköy. It was cast by Val d'Osne and appears as model 118 in their catalogue, cast in either cast iron or bronze. Château de la MontagneSaint-Honoré-les-Bains1865The original chateau was destroyed in the 16th century. Rebuilt by Guillaume des Jours, the château was acquired in 1786 by the d'Espeuilles family. The marquis Antoine Théodore d'Espeuilles built a pottery next to the château and charged the architect Félix Duban to carry out improvements to the château itself. These improvements included a grand staircase ("Escalier d'honneur") which featured a terracotta sculpture of a hunting scene by Rouillard. This sculpture depicts Antoine Théodore killing a wild boar who had caused awful carnage when attacking Theodore's dogs, and the reliefs on the pedestal supporting the sculpture show the marquis killing the beast as it went under his horse. Lions on railway bridgeArles1866In 1868 a bridge was built to allow trains of the Paris-Lyon-Marseille railway to link Arles to Lunel crossing the Rhone river. In particular the bridge facilitated moving coal mined in the Cevennes mountains. At each end of the bridge there were pillars upon which were Rouillard sculptures of seated lions. During an allied bombing raid in August 1944 the bridge was destroyed but Rouillard's lions and the supporting pillars survived. Cast iron garden urnWhereabouts not known Sculptures of Eagles for the Emperor pavilion at the Paris Opera.1869In this year Rouillard lost many of his working models and casts when engineers set about clearing the area on the perimeter of Fort Issy and demolished his house and studio. École nationale supérieure d'agronomie de Grignon1874A sculpture depicting "Berkshire" pigs was completed for this renown agricultural college. Four statues of animalsDeauville1878In Deauville's boulevard de la Mer are four cast iron statues of wild animals. These were purchased by the Deauville municipality in 1964 for the town's foreshore. Although the works are not signed or dated, they are thought to be by Rouilllard; many copies of his figures were cast and put on the market as limited editions.Silver table decoration entitled "La France distribuant des couronnes de gloire".musée des Arts décoratifs. Paris1878A table decoration (surtout) by the silversmith Christofle, designed by François Gilbert with sculptural work by Rouillard. The piece was ordered by Napoleon III for the Tuileries palace and was shown at the Paris l'Exposition Universelle of 1855. It was discovered in the ruins of the Tuileries after the 1871 fire. In the centre of what is in fact a three part piece, an allegory of France in the form of a winged angel of victory, stands with arms outstretched, offering crowns. In one hand is a crown of laurels and in the other a crown of oak leaves. Around her are four seated female figures representing "Justice", "Concorde", "Force" and "Religion" and bearing the appropriate attributes. At her feet is a cherub and two winged angels and below is a shield with the Imperial crown and the letter "N". To the left of the central figure is the chariot of peace, driven by a woman holding a caduceus and drawn by four bulls whilst to the right a chariot of war is driven by an Etruscan warrior bearing a two-edged sword and driven by four horses. Statue of the horse "Dollar"Maisons-Laffitte1878Statue stands in the avenue Picard. Cast in bronze by Société Anonyme des Fonderies d'art du Val d'Aosne. The horse won the Goodwood cup in 1864. It was given as a gift to the town of Maisons-Laffitte by the American Frank Yay Gould. . Cheval à la herseMusée d'Orsay1878This work in cast iron stands in a prominent position outside the Paris museum. It is arguably Rouillard's best known work and when commissioned it was intended as decoration for the Trocadéro palace. In the same year as he completed "Cheval à la herse" Rouillard completed works entitled "Cheval anglais" and "Cheval percheron".

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