Model for the Equestrian Statue of King Louis XIV

Bernini Gian Lorenzo

(Naples 1598 - Rome 1680)

This small terracotta group depicts Louis XIV of France. The king wears a cuirass and holds a sceptre in his hand while riding a rearing horse, which is supported by rocks.

The work is a preparatory model for the great equestrian statue commissioned to Gian Lorenzo Bernini by Louis, which was to be placed in a Parisian square. The sculpture was executed by students of the French Academy in Rome, yet it did not please the sovereign. François Girardon subsequently transformed it into a Marcus Curtius, which was placed in the Orangerie of the Palace of Versailles.

Characterised by great vitality and a detailed level of sculpting, the model clearly derives from the statue of Emperor Constantine – which Bernini had sculpted shortly before for the Scala Regia in the Vatican – as Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the French minister of finance, had explicitly requested.

Object details

Commentary

Bernini had already proposed an equestrian representation of the Sun King during his stay in Paris, though at the time he received no response (Fréart de Chantelou 1665, 13 August). Only two years after his return to Italy did Jean-Baptiste Colbert send a letter to the sculptor asking him to proceed with the work (December 1667). The block of marble was brought to his studio in the summer of 1669, which, however, he did not begin sculpting until years later. The present model is thus considered the original, sculpted by Bernini in accordance with the promise made to the patron. It is probable that his initial intention was to entrust most of the sculpting to his expert assistants, given that he was by then in his seventies. Yet because he had been receiving a pension from the French court since 1666, he agreed with Colbert that the work would be executed by students of the newly established French Academy in Rome, with the exception of the face, which Bernini would look to personally (the entire correspondence was published in Wittkower 1961, I, pp. 519-21). The sculpture was begun in 1671 and only completed in either 1677 or 1678; upon Bernini’s death in 1680, it was still waiting to be sent to Paris. When Louis finally saw the work in 1685, he was displeased and even asked that it be destroyed. Ultimately, though, he agreed to let the French sculptor François Girardon transform it into a representation of the Roman hero Marcus Curtius. It was then placed in the Orangerie of the Palace of Versailles, where it still stands today.

Characterised by great vitality and a detailed level of sculpting, the model clearly derives from the statue of Emperor Constantine – which Bernini had sculpted shortly before for the Scala Regia in the Vatican – as the French minister of finance Jean-Baptiste Colbert had explicitly requested, albeit with several variations: the direction of the figure’s gaze was changed – Constantine was depicted adoring the Cross – as was his pose, which had to express Louis’s majesty and power.

The model was executed by applying and shaping the terracotta around a filler material, which was later removed. Pins of various sizes were used for the horse’s legs and the king’s limbs. Markings were later detected on Louis’s throat, cuirass and feet as indications for the enlargement, while lines along the surface served to show the reflection of light (whose effect on terracotta differs from that on marble): these signs had a ‘didactic’ purpose, indicating to the French students the direction along which they had to move their tools (Barberini, in Bernini, 2017, p. 301). In the past, the model underwent restoration and integration operations, evident above all on the horse’s front legs and tail, on the king’s feet and on the rod which he holds in his hand. In addition, glaze was applied to render the colouring uniform (Dickerson, Siegel 2012, p. 226).

A terracotta fragment representing a portion of the rear of a horse is held at the Museo Nazionale in Palazzo di Venezia; this is believed to be a study of the monument of Louis XIV (Barberini 1991, p. 49).

A drawing presenting the work, believed to be by Bernini and to derive from the terracotta model, is conserved at the Museo Civico in Bassano (Barberini, in Bernini, 2017, pp. 302-3, cat. VIII.19); two other drawings produced by his workshop are held at the National Gallery of Edinburgh.

Sonja Felici