DAVID, PIERRE JEAN (1789-1856), usually called David d'Angers, French sculptor, was born at Angers on March 12, 1789, and died in Paris on Jan. 4, 1856. The son of a carver, he went to Paris at 17 with II francs in his pocket to study under Roland. After a year and a half's struggle he received a small annuity from the municipality of Angers, and in 181 1 won the prix de Rome, and was sent to Italy, where he worked for some time in Canova's studio. Returning to Paris in 1816, after a short visit to London, he received many important commissions. He was in revolt against the prevailing classical style, and one of his first works in Paris, the "Conde" at Versailles, shows the new tendency towards a more realistic method. In 1827 he visited England, and in 1828 and 1834, Germany. Always a Radical in politics, he had to leave France for a short period of ter the Coup d'etat of Dec. 1851. Many of the most famous men and women of his time sat to David for busts or medallions. A nearly com plete collection, originals or copies, is to be seen in the Musee David at Angers. Among David's most important works are : the sculptures on the pediment of the Pantheon, showing the prin cipal personages in France since the Revolution grouped round a figure of "La Patrie"; tie Gutenberg monument at Strasbourg; the monument to General Gobert in Pere Lachaise, the "Phi lopoemen" in the Louvre, and the bust of Goethe, presented by him to the poet in 1831, in the public library at Weimar.
See H. Jouin, David d'Angers et ses relations litteraires (1890) ; Lettres de P. J. David d'Angers a Louis Dupre (1891) ; Collection de portraits des contemporains d'apres les medallions de P. J. David (1838).