THE SUCCESSIVE STATUES OF PLACE DES VOSGES

FROM A SYMBOL OF AUTHORITY TO A WORK THAT A TREE TRUNK HOLDS UP   

Prime Minister Richelieu's last gift to Louis XIII was the equestrian statue that finally appeared in place Royale.

(In 1643) 

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It was destroyed during the Revolution with the four statues of the other places: They were made of bronze and were melted down for cannons.  

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The copy we see was made during the Restoration:* A tree trunk keeps the horse from falling over.

*The attempt to return to the Old Regime, in 1815-30

Louis XIII by Jean-Pierre Cortot, 1820's

The challenge of equestrian statues: The horse must raise a hoof

and not fall down.

•  Jean-Pierre Cortot's works are conventional but competent. This one adorns the Arc de Triomphe:

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• The regime had spent most of its budget on the statue for pont Neuf, and Cortot was obliged to use stone instead of bronze. The heavier weight (a work in bronze is made from a mold whose inside is empty) made the work more difficult.  

 -- Philippe Schmitt-Kummerlee, Carnavalet Museum, personal communication

• A government that offered only "masses and masked balls" (George Sand) to a public used to immense victories or massive defeats, soon seemed boring. Cortot could have insisted that adequate funds be granted, or have refused the commission: The tree trunk suggests that he shared the public's indifference, and only took the job for pay.    

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Louis XVIII said of his relationship with the French, "I am like a woman who is not very attractive, whom reason forces one to love."

-- Madame Royale by André Castelot, 1962 (in French)

The statue suggests a "pale monarchy"
for which the king himself lacks the will

 to find the means for a satisfactory image,

while the vigor of the original work

shows the start of monarchy's Golden Age.

-- "Pale monarchy:"

  René Chateaubriand, royalist writer,

 Memories from beyond the grave (« Mémoires d'outre tomb »), 1848

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