Guillaume 1 Coustou (1677-1746) ◊ Horses of Marly : “The Westerner”

Description

Formed in the workshop of his uncle Antoine Coysevox, Grand Prix of Rome in 1697, he joined the Villa Medici in Rome. Returning to Paris in 1704, he entered the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, of which he became the director. He then worked for King Louis XIV in Versailles, where he produced the sculptures of the royal chapel. But it was for Louis XV and the Château de Marly that he realized his masterpiece, the “Chevaux de Marly”, whose originals (colossal and in marble) can be admired in the Louvre Museum, and copies on the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
These two spirited horses, restrained by their stableboy (naked and muscular, one is called « African » the second « Westerner ») represent the forces of untamed nature of this vast world. And announce the romantic treatment of equestrian subjects.