510. François Girardon (1628-1715), French,

Equestrian Statue of Louis XIV, 1685-1692.

Bronze, 102 x 98 x 50 cm.

Musée du Louvre, Paris. Classicism.

 

 

François Girardon

(1628 Troyes – 1715 Paris)

 

French sculptor, François Girardon had a joiner and wood-carver master under whom he is said to have worked at the château of Liébault, where he attracted the notice of Chancellor Séguier. Under the chancellor’s influence Girardon first moved to Paris and was placed in the studio of François Anguier, and afterwards sent to Rome. In 1652 he was back in France, and seems at once to have addressed himself with something like ignoble subservience to the task of conciliating the court painter Charles Le Brun. Indeed, a very large proportion of his work was carried out from designs by Le Brun, and often reveals aspects of Le Brun's manner (a great command of ceremonial pomp in portraying the power and greatness of the king to the extent that if it were more expressive, might be imposing). The court Girardon paid to the “premier peintre du roi” was rewarded. An immense quantity of work at Versailles was entrusted to him, and in recognition of the successful execution of four figures for the Apollo Attended by Nymphs of Thetis, Le Brun induced the king to present his protégé personally with a purse of 300 louis, as a distinguishing mark of royal favour. In 1657 Girardon was made a member of the Academy, in 1659 professor, in 1674 “adjoint au recteur”, and finally chancellor in 1695. Five years earlier (1690), on the death of Le Brun, he had also been appointed “inspecteur général des ouvrages de sculpture” – a place of power and profit. In 1699 he completed the bronze equestrian statue of Louis XIV, erected by the town of Paris on the Place Louis le Grand. This statue was melted down during the Revolution, and is only known to us by a small bronze model finished by Girardon himself. His Tomb of Richelieu was saved from destruction by Alexandre Lenoir, who received a bayonet thrust in protecting the head of the cardinal from mutilation. It is a major example of Girardon’s work, and the theatrical pomp of its style is typical of the funeral sculpture of the reigns of Louis XIV and XV. Although chiefly occupied in Paris, Girardon never forgot his native Troyes, the museum of which town contains some of his best works, including the marble busts of Louis XIV and Maria Theresa. In the hôtel de ville is still shown a medallion of Louis XIV, and in the church of Saint-Rémy a bronze crucifix of some importance, both works by his hand.