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| Jacques Buirette Union of Painting and Sculpture (reception piece) 1663 marble relief Musée du Louvre |
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| Corneille van Clève Polyphemus sitting on a Rock (reception piece) 1681 marble Musée du Louvre |
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| Jacques Prou Sculpture and Painting composing a Portrait of Louis XIV (reception piece) 1682 marble relief Musée du Louvre |
"There was one domain in which Charles Le Brun's stanglehold might have left a stronger mark on French art: his role in setting subjects or even drawings for prizes and reception pieces. The long allegorical commentary that Guillet de Saint-Georges devoted to Jacques Prou's bas-relief, with the assistance of a memoir given to him by the sculptor, shows both Le Brun's importance and the limits of his influence: But this arrangement, in which Sculpture presents her drawing to Painting, is also founded on a particular thought of Monsieur Prou's, who wished me to specify it here, since he is full of gratitude for the good advice and help that he has often received from Monsieur Le Brun. Here he has made a private confession of this, and, knowing that the execution of the principal works of the king in both painting and sculpture has often been confided to Monsieur Le Brun, he wished to give a formal idea of it by indicating that Sculpture communicates its drawing to Painting and awaits her advice. But, at the same time, Prou takes care to indicate the excellence and merit of sculpture, and, remembering that works of painting executed for the king were at this time required to submit to the same inspection, he seeks to place the two talents as if in perfect counterpoise. Thus, though Sculpture asks for advice, she maintains her rank, for she sits while Painting stands. Le Brun, in short, gives his opinions and advice but does not impose his preeminence."
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| Guillaume Coustou the Elder Hercules on the Pyre (reception piece) 1704 marble Musée du Louvre |
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| François Coudray St Sebastian (reception piece) 1712 marble Musée du Louvre |
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| François Dumont Titan struck by a Thunderbolt (reception piece) 1712 marble Musée du Louvre |
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| Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne Death of Hippolytus (reception piece) 1715 marble Musée du Louvre |
"Of the forty-four statues executed [as reception pieces] between 1704 and 1791, only six represented female figures. Since most sculptors were asked to execute in marble the modello that they had submitted for their conditional acceptance, we can – despite the fact that statues of women were in much greater demand during the eighteenth century – assume that this reflects the artist's choices. One explanation for this disparity lies in the teaching structure of the Académie. . . . Life drawing was confined there to the male model, and no doubt aspirants and officers alike had absorbed the idea that the nec plus ultra of art was to impart a sense of life to a male figure. . . . The choice of animated, not to say contorted, figures was related to the great canonic models such as the Laocoön, of course, but also to the works of Michelangelo, Bernini, and Puget. Only in reception pieces could an artist take on the kind of subject that was in scant demand for the decoration of townhouses and gardens. Sculptors increasingly sought expression and a sense of movement."
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| Lambert-Sigisbert Adam Neptune calming the Waves (reception piece) 1737 marble Musée du Louvre |
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| Guillaume Coustou the Younger Seated Vulcan (reception piece) 1742 marble Musée du Louvre |
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| Paul-Ambroise Slodtz Fall of Icarus (reception piece) 1743 marble Musée du Louvre |
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| Jean-Baptiste Pigalle Mercury attaching his Wings (reception piece) 1744 marble Musée du Louvre |
"Probably the most widely appreciated reception piece of the century was Jean-Baptiste Pigalle's statue of Mercury; he presented the modello in November 1741 and the marble in July 1744. Widely reproduced in various versions and media, including plaster, ceramic, and painting, it led to a monumental commission from the Direction des Bâtiments. Louis XV gave the resulting marble to Frederick II of Prussia. Pigalle contrived to execute a twisting figure with tightly grouped limbs that nevertheless retained a natural look. It was a modern reworking of the Hellenistic bronze sculpture of a seated boy pulling a thorn from his foot known as Spinario, and was notably distinct from most of the reception pieces that had preceded it. It paved the way for a new style in which modelling and elegance were more important than the bravura element."
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| Louis-Claude Vassé Sleeping Shepherd (reception piece) 1751 marble Musée du Louvre |
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| Jacques Saly Faun holding a Goat (reception piece) 1751 marble Musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris |
"The trend toward simplicity is perhaps still further developed in the work of two sculptors admitted in 1751, Jacques Saly and Louis Claude Vassé. The former took less than a year to make a marble sculpture of the modello that he had presented for his conditional acceptance in 1750, while the latter took more than three years. Theirs were the first reception pieces to present subjects other than the protagonists of ancient history or mythology. Saly submitted a faun holding a kid; Vassé, a sleeping shepherd. Both figures were reworkings of canonic antique models. The Roman model for Saly's work was then in the hands of the Spanish monarchy and is today at the Prado: it had already been copied, notably by Anselme Flamen for the Versailles gardens and Pierre Le Pautre for the gardens of Marly. Vassé's Sleeping Shepherd derives from the Hellenistic statue known as the Barberini Faun, of which a famous copy had been made by Vassé's master, Bourchardon, while the latter was at the Académie de France à Rome. In both cases, the composition was considerably modified, and the sculptors added what was then thought to be one of the principle merits of modern sculpture relative to ancient ones: the accurate representation of flesh. Imitating ancient originals was not considered copying; it was a way of emulating famous works – in some cases, it allowed the artist to show how the subject had been reconceived as a result of art's progress. Saly's Faun was much more warmly received than Vassé's Shepherd. Along with Pigalle's Mercury, it was one of the statues most often reproduced and copied."
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| Étienne-Maurice Falconet Milo of Croton (reception piece) 1754 marble Musée du Louvre |
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| Augustin Pajou Pluto chaining Cerberus (reception piece) 1760 marble Musée du Louvre |
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| Nicolas-Sébastien Adam Prometheus Bound (reception piece) 1762 marble Musée du Louvre |
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| Étienne Gois Bust of Louis XV (reception piece) 1770 marble Château de Versailles |
– texts and quoted passages from The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture: The Birth of the French School, 1648-1793 by Christian Michel, published in France in 2012, translated by Chris Miller and published by Getty Research Institute in 2018