D'après un modèle de MARTIN VAN DEN BOGAERT,DIT DESJARDINS (Bréda, 1637 Paris, 1694)

D'après un modèle de MARTIN VAN DEN BOGAERT,DIT DESJARDINS (Bréda, 1637 Paris, 1694)

STATUE ÉQUESTRE DE LOUIS XIV France, circa 1700
Bronze with brown
patina Ebony veneer base, gilt bronze and brass
threads Total height 49.8 cm, W. 19.5 cm, D. 53.5 cm ( Bronze height : 40.8 cm)
Missing a bridle
Taking root in Roman Antiquity with the famous Marcus Aurelius on horseback from the Capitoline square in
Rome, equestrian statuary underwent an unprecedented development in France in the 17th century. One should think in particular of the statue of Henry IV (1614) on the Pont-Neuf by Giambologna and Pietro Tacca and that of Louis XIII (1639) by Pierre II Biard decorating the centre of the Royal Square (now Place des Vosges).
A French sculptor of Dutch origin, Martin Desjardins was already in the service of Louis XIV when, in 1687, he received a new commission for an equestrian statue of the monarch. "On June 14, 1687 [...] the deputies of the Communities of Provence ordered from Desjardins for the city of Aix an equestrian statue 3.80 meters high, which they wanted to be innovative.
Returning to the somewhat abandoned tradition of the rearing horse, the sculptor proposed that the sovereign should ride a galloping horse on his hind legs, with the horse's tail providing a third support on the terrace.
The large plaster model was ready when Desjardins died in May 1694. Cassegrain had been asked to make the mould, but the project was not completed. Nevertheless, the composition was a great success." (in Collectif, Bronzes français de la
Renaissance au Siècle des Lumières, Musée du Louvre Éditions,
Paris, 2008, p. 309).
Characteristic of the care he took in repairing surfaces and in chiselling, it is likely that the group was founded by Roger Schabol (around 1656 - after 1714), a pupil of the Swiss sculptor and founder Jean-Balthazar Keller (1638- 1702). The Aix commission was followed by commissions from the Elector of Bavaria Maximilian-Emmanuel (1662- 1726). One of them, taking up the provisions of the Aix-en-Provence project, is now in a private collection in the United States (op. cit., p. 320).
A true piece of bravery in the art of bronze-making at the turn of the 18th century, this statue can be considered a true manifesto of the nobility and glory of the reign of
Louis XIV. His great-grandson, Louis XV, remembered this lesson when he commissioned the sculptor Bouchardon in 1748 to create his own equestrian statue for the Place Louis XV (now Place de la Concorde). Automatically translated by DeepL. To see the original version, click here.