Cet article a été publié en français le 2 mai 2008
In the center of place des Vosges, one can "admire" a statue partly hidden by the trees : it is Louis XIII, "le juste", king of France from 1610 to 1643.
Richelieu decided to erect this statue in 1639, but is was knocked down during the French Revolution. The current piece is from the Restoration (the period after Emperor Napoleon I). I cannot resist the desire to quote (and translate into English) the description of this statue in a book written by Georges POISSON : "the sovereign looks simple and absent-minded under his laurel crown. In fact, the horse looks more expressive than the horseman. Furthermore, usually this kind of statue are made of bronze but the sculptors used marble which doesnot allows as much lightness : they had to put a tree trunk under the horse's belly which neither lightens the statue nor adds to its authenticity.
We can also add that Louis XIII is disproportioned in comparison to the horse. It appears as if the king's feet are dragging across the ground (as shown on the photo below). The two sculptors who committed themwselves to completing this masterpiece, Dupaty and Cortot, spent 11 years finishing it. This post could have been categorized under the heading "could be better" but in fact, in the end this statue has a certain charm thanks to its imperfection.
Book to read (in French !) : Georges POISSON, Guide des statues de Paris, Les guides visuel Hazan, 1990.
This post was published in French on May 2, 2008.
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