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François Girardon (Troyes, 1628-1715, Paris)
Louis XIV, king of France 1643-1715 |
Bronze bust
16 cm high (6¼ in.)
The back of the head is stamped with a C-couronné hallmark which was used between 1745 and 1749.
Provenance:
- Yves Saint Laurent’s collection; his sale, Christie’s, Paris, 25 February 2009, lot 590
Louis XIV is thought to have shaved off his moustache around 1690, so the present portrait of the king was probably modelled in the 1690s when the king was in his fifties.
Girardon was the most eminent sculptor in France during the last three decades of the 17th century, playing a vital part in the creation of the French classical style through his role as the principal sculptor for the royal works of Louis XIV.
The young Girardon studied in Rome at the expense of Louis XIV's Chancellor Séguier and from about 1650 worked in the Paris studio of the Anguier. His talents and his early association with Charles Le Brun, future First Painter to the King, led to his rapid rise to pre-eminence. He worked with Le Brun at the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, where the opulent classicism that found its finest expression at Versailles was first developed. From the 1660s Girardon contributed major works to the gardens and palace at Versailles. His later works, such as the magnificent equestrian statue of Louis XIV (1685–92; destr.) for what is now the Place Vendôme in Paris, continue the trend towards a more dynamic concept of sculpture. Girardon was also a notable collector of sculpture.
During the reign of Louis XV, many bronzes were stamped with a hallmark made of a crown placed above the letter C. This relates to a tax imposed in 1745 on objects made of bronze and copper. The edict of that year specified that both previously made bronzes and contemporary works should be checked and marked [“les ouvrages vieux et neufs (...) qui sont et seront fabriqués, soient visités et marqués”]. The tax was suspended in 1749.
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