This extraordinary bronze is a rare reduction of the monumental equestrian statue of Louis XIV by François Girardon, originally commissioned in 1692 for the Place Louis-le-Grand (today Place Vendôme) in Paris and unveiled in 1699. The original, destroyed during the Revolution, now survives only in fragments, housed in the Louvre.

Girardon himself produced reductions of the work, one of which (h. 102 cm) was exhibited in 1704 at the Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture and remains in the Louvre collection. Comparable examples of this size are preserved at Windsor Castle, the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, Vaux-le-Vicomte, and notably in the Foyer of the world-renowned Hôtel de Paris in Monaco (photo above).

The present example stands within this illustrious tradition. Its provenance includes some of the most distinguished collections of the 20th century, from Sir Philip Sassoon and the Marquess of Cholmondeley at Houghton Hall, to Mr. and Mrs. Stephen C. Hilbert, the Mallet Gallery in London, and the collection of Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Al Thani.

Referenced in A. Maral & F. de La Moureyre, François Girardon (1628-1715). Le Sculpteur de Louis XIV (Paris, 2015), this work represents not only an exceptional object of French 19th-century bronze casting, but also a testament to the enduring legacy of Girardon’s vision for the Sun King.