Equestrian Monument to King Louis XIV
Artist: After Martin Desjardins (French, 1637-1694)
Date: modeled about 1688-1691, this cast about 1700
Dimensions:
H: 39 in. (99 cm); base H: 36 1/2 in. (92.7 cm)
Medium: bronze with gilding
Classification: Sculpture
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott
Object number: 1980.1330
Label Text:Bold, innovative, and supremely self-confident, King Louis XIV (ruled 1643–1715) was the most powerful monarch in French history. Since ancient Rome, portraits of rulers on horseback were seen as the ultimate image of power. Here Louis wears Roman military armor and the imperial cloak and holds a commander’s baton. On his breastplate is the Gallic rooster, symbolic of France. The rooster is overcoming a lion, emblematic of Holland or Spain, which were two adversaries of France. The horse treads upon a sword and a barbarian shield bearing an Amazon’s head to symbolize enemies defeated. A concession to contemporary French fashion is Louis’s flowing wig.
In 1688 the city of Lyon, France commissioned the sculptor Martin Desjardins to make an over-life-size bronze equestrian statue of the king. Destroyed during the French Revolution as a symbol of tyranny—as were all public royal images—it is now known by several small-scale versions, the largest and finest of which is Toledo’s bronze.
In 1688 the city of Lyon, France commissioned the sculptor Martin Desjardins to make an over-life-size bronze equestrian statue of the king. Destroyed during the French Revolution as a symbol of tyranny—as were all public royal images—it is now known by several small-scale versions, the largest and finest of which is Toledo’s bronze.
DescriptionBronze with gilding and rosewood veneer; gilded bronze pedestal.
Not on view
In Collection(s)