Saturday, May 13, 2006

Four Captive Nations

Four Captive Nations by Martin Desjardins, Musée du Louvre, Paris

Four Captive Nations by Martin Desjardins, 1685
Musée du Louvre
Rue de Rivoli
Quartier Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, 1st arrondissement
Paris, July 2005

“His gilt-bronze Four Captive Nations (1682–85) celebrated the early victories of the armies of Louis XIV over the alliances of Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, Brandenburg and the Dutch Republic, in Louis XIV's Place des Victoires, Paris. They ornamented the socle of Desjardins' standing sculpture of Louis XIV, which was melted down at the Revolution. Today the Captifs are conserved in the Louvre, their gilding weathered away. A marble workshop copy of the Louis XIV is to be seen in the Orangerie at Versailles.” (Martin Desjardins, Wikipedia)

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