Molière Sagnier. Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière (; ; 15 January 162217 February 1673), was a French playwright, actor and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and universal literature. His extant works includes comedies, farces, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets, and more. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed at the Comédie-Française more often than those of any other playwright today. His influence is such that the French language itself is often referred to as the "language of Molière". Born into a prosperous family and having studied
Jean-Baptiste Defernex and his style seems to have been regarded as unfashionable during his day. The expressions of his portrait busts have been compared to those of Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and have been described as "...honest, unidealized, quite free from gallant flattery..." by the art historian Michael Levey. Jean-Baptiste Defernex Jean-Baptist Defernex (c. 1729–c. 1783) was a French sculptor, best known for his portrait busts, most often of women. Little is known of Defernex's early training, but he started as a modeler at the Sèvres factory. He was sculptor to the Duc d'Orléans and worked on gilded lead statue groups of children at