Posted 5 years ago
Golgatha
(214 items)
In 1739 Louis XV (1710-1774) king of France ordered a pair of sculptures from Guillaume Coustou (1677-1746) to the entrance of his Chateau de Marly. Inspired by a pair of sculptures in Rome from Antiquity, showing Castor and Pollux with their horses, he suggested a pair of horses retained by their groomes. The king approved and in 1745 the sculptures in Carrara marble were completed. The hunting castle was later demolished, but the sculptures survived and can today be seen at Louvre. Later on it became fashionable for wealthy tourists to go on a 'grand tour' through Europe. The tourists visited Paris, continued through Switzerland to see the magnificent Alps and the tour always had Rome as its final destination. On the way the tourists visited artists and art dealers and bought what they liked for the decoration of their manor houses. But not all what they saw was for sale. In many cases they would have to do with copies in reduced size of famous, local sculptures. I believe this 26 cm high unsigned pair of 'Marly horses' in bronze could be such a 'grand tour souvenir'. They are of good quality and that leads me to suggest Charles Crozatier (1795-1855) as the originator. He's known to have made copies in reduced size of the 'Marly horses' around 1850.