Equestrian statue of Louis XIV after Cartelier and Petitot

Equestrian statue representing Louis XIV on horseback going into battle after Pierre Cartelier and Louis Messidor Lebon Petitot dit Louis Petitot

"The first platform in the world is the saddle of a horse" Lamartine

65 x 57 cm dimension of the horse

The equestrian representation of the prince is extremely old since it was already proven in Antiquity.
The famous bronze effigy of Marc Aurelius (121-180) from the Capitol in Rome will be the model par excellence. Known throughout the West by countless scale models, it will inspire many artists.
The first projects were initiated in France with François I, who commissioned Primaticcio to make a bronze cast of the Roman Marcus Aurelius. Catherine de Medici considers Michelangelo to statue her husband Henri II killed in a tournament. His pupil Daniel de Volterra will make the bronze horse, and the king will be left aside, until Louis XIII is put back in the saddle on the mount abandoned three quarters of a century earlier, by its author and the sponsors. The statue of Henri IV is the first erected in the public square and the last where the king wears the clothing of his time. A long series is thus begun, which will grow especially in the years 1680 to 1700 and whose apotheosis surely remains the monument to Louis XIV by Girardon erected place des Victoires in Paris in 1699

The manner of showing the cavalier king therefore evolves according to power. With the reign of Louis XIV, the absolute state asserted itself. The horse is therefore the mirror of the policy of the sovereign: of his warlike policy, therefore external, internal, institutional and cultural.

The king on horseback adopts two main gaits: a calm gait: the horse has one of its forelegs raised and the diagonal posterior detached from the ground, it is called "the passage", this majestic gait is an elegant position. The second is "lifting", more lively, the horse raises its forelegs while almost sitting on its hindquarters. It symbolizes the charge, it evokes the heroism of the sovereign, even if he never charges.
Seated on his horse, Louis XIV symbolizes military authority by brandishing the baton of command, amplifying a gesture that directs a weapon, he thus embodies power.

War was the big business of princes and kings in the 17th century, but during the second half of the century, the king no longer led his troops into battle. Since the captivity of François I in Pavia, the king has been far from the theaters of military operations, however in great communication Louis XIV invents royal heroism "in image".
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Panneaux latéraux

This sculpture is a scale model of the bronze equestrian statue of Louis XIV located on the Place d'Armes in front of the Palace of Versailles.
Designed by Pierre Cartellier, it was unfinished when he died in 1831, only the horse originally designed for an equestrian statue of Louis XV commissioned in 1816 by Louis XVIII for the Place de la Concorde (unrealized) was completed. Louis XIV is the work of Louis Petitot, everything will be cast in bronze by Charles Crozatier in 1838 who will execute certain scale models.

Pierre Cartellier, (1757 – 1831) goldsmith and sculptor, professor at the School of Fine Arts in Paris, member of the institute. Louis XVIII commissioned him to create the equestrian statue of Louis XIV to celebrate the restoration of the Bourbons.

Louis Messidor Lebon Petitot said Louis Petitot (1794-1862), son of the sculptor Pierre Petitot, pupil of Pierre Cartellier of which he will become the son-in-law. Prix de Rome in 1814, he resided at the Villa Medici from 1815 to 1819.

Charles Crozatier (1795 – 1855), bronzier of art is a disciple of Pierre Cartellier, he is at the same time as Louis Petitot in Rome from where he brings back quantity of castings. Established in Puy en Velay, he discovers several processes to improve the moulds, so he is responsible for carrying out monumental cast irons.

The equestrian statues of Louis XIV enliven the squares of major French cities such as Lyon, Rennes, Dijon, Bordeaux, Montpellier.



The equestrian statues of Louis XIV

Equestrian statue of Louis XIV in the guise of Marcus Curtius by Le Bernin and re-sculpted by F. Girardon. Completed in 1677

Equestrian statue of Louis XIV by Martin Desjardins for the Place des Victoires in Paris in 1679

Equestrian statue of Louis XIV by François Girardon for Place Louis le Grand (now Place Vendôme) in 1685

Equestrian statue of Louis XIV by Antoine Coysevox for the Place du Parlement in Rennes 1690

Equestrian statue of Louis XIV by Martin Desjardins for Place Bellecour in Lyon delivered in 1713