Is considered to be one of the foremost gilders and bronze casters from the late Louis XVI era to the imperial empire. Galle was born in Villepreux near Versailles. He served his apprenticeship in Paris under the bronze caster Pierre Foy and married in 1784 his daughter. In 1786 he became a master in bronze casting and after his father – in – law’s death in 1788, Galle took the workshop and soon turned it into one of the finest in the city, with just over 400 employed craftsmen.