A FRENCH GILT-BRONZE EQUESTRIAN GROUP OF LOUIS XIV ON HORSEBACK

The present lot is a reduction of François Girardon's celebrated equestrian model of Louis XIV. Cast by J. Balthasar Keller and weighing over thirty tons, the monumental original was unveiled in the Place Louis le Grand (later renamed Place Vendôme) on 13 August 1699. It was subsequently destroyed by the populace in 1792 and only one hoof, now preserved in the Louvre, survives from it (M. Martin, Les Monuments Equestres de Louis XIV, Paris, 1986, pp. 92-117).
That Girardon executed bronze reductions himself is confirmed by René Charpentier's 1709 engraving entitled Gravure de la galerie Girardon, which depicts the reduction supplied for Versailles featured in Girardon's own sculpture collection. Further 18th century reductions are recorded in the Louvre and Versailles, at Vaux-le-Vicomte, the Hermitage, St Petersburg and the Wallace Collection, London.
The popularity of this model resulted in the production of numerous 19th century reductions by Parisian bronziers, including Beurdeley and Henry Dasson.