LESPINGOLA, François

The Gaul killing himself and his wife is a Phrygian marble group, also known as “Ludovisi Gaul”. It is a Roman copy of the early 2nd century CE after a bronze Hellenistic original of ca. 230-220 BCE. Lespingola copied the group, then known as Arrius and Paeta, in Rome in 1684 for Versailles.

The Gaul killing himself and his wife is a Phrygian marble group, also known as “Ludovisi Gaul”. It is a Roman copy of the early 2nd century CE after a bronze Hellenistic original of ca. 230-220 BCE. Lespingola copied the group, then known as Arrius and Paeta, in Rome in 1684 for Versailles.

When Lespingola returned from Italy to France he became occupied with royal garden statuary. It is possible that he launched his series of small bronzes in the years 1693-99, when commissions stalled at the Bâtiments du Roi, the department of the king’s household responsible for royal gardens. Years of study in Italy influenced his style and informed his bronze technique. He adapted the technique that Florentine sculptors, such as Giovanni Battista Foggini and Massimiliano Soldani Benzi, used to achieve their effects in grouping multiple figures: casting elements separately and assembling them with bolts beneath the base or soldered joins.

The subject of the present group is the Fourth Labour of Hercules: to bring the fearsome Erymantean Boar back to Eurystheus alive. Lespingola executed six other episodes from the stories of the twelve labours, the artist’s intention was likely to create a set of twelve episodes.

This group is the result of a collaboration with Jacques Buirette (1631-1699).

This group is the result of a collaboration with Jacques Buirette (1631-1699).