Lot Essay
It is recorded by Guillet de Saint-Georges in a biography of 1690 that Anguier created a series of bronze statuettes of gods and goddesses in 1652. The Amphitrite was to prove the most celebrated. In 1654, Anguier was commissioned by Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV's Finance Minister, to carve fourteen life-size figures in limestone, including the Amphitrite. A marble version was made by Mass for the gardens at Versailles, and bronzes of various sizes, often paired with male gods, are known. Of the series of fourteen, four have survived; the life-size Amphitrite is today in the Institute of Art in Toledo.