Model for an Equestrian Statue of Louis XIV

This sculpture was commissioned in 1685 to adorn the Place Vend�me in Paris. Taking as his prototype the monument to Marcus Aurelius in Rome, Girardon depicted the king as a triumphant general astride a horse without a saddle or stirrups, in ancient dress but with the wig characteristic of his own time. The monument, 17 meters high with the pedestal, was destroyed during the French Revolution and is known today by only a few scale models.