Sculpture "Louis XIV"

Francois Girardon (1628 - 1715) was a French sculptor. He was born in the family of a master of decorative and figure casting. Subsequently, he completed his art education in Rome. Returning to Paris, he gained the favor of the painter S. Lebrun, who was all-powerful at that time in the affairs of French art, as a result of which he received many orders, which he executed with great technical skill and showiness. In 1692, in the center of Paris, on the Place Vendome, an equestrian statue of the King of France, Louis XIV, was installed, destroyed during the French Revolution (a bronze model is kept in the Louvre, a reduced replica in bronze is kept in the Hermitage collection). This work of Girardon throughout the 18th century served as a model for equestrian monuments of European sovereigns.