Live Auction 24580Lines of Vision: Celebrating 20 Years of Stephen Ongpin Fine Art
GIOVANNI BOLDINI (1842-1931)
Lot 6

GIOVANNI BOLDINI (1842-1931)

A Study of Bernini’s and Girardon’s Equestrian Statue of Louis XIV / Marcus Curtius at Versailles

Closed2 July 2026

Price Realised

GBP 5,715

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GIOVANNI BOLDINI (1842-1931)
A Study of Bernini’s and Girardon’s Equestrian Statue of Louis XIV / Marcus Curtius at Versailles
with inscription '8 mars - 9 juin 1963 - musée jacquemart andré / de l'album no.16, si souvent feuilleté, / ce dessin de Boldini au Comte Doria / avec la reconnaissante amitié de / Milli Boldini' (verso)
black chalk with stumping, on ruled paper from a notebook partial watermark initial 'H'
6 7⁄8 x 8 ¾ in. (17.4 x 22.2 cm.)

Emilia Cardona Boldini (1899-1977), Ferrara.
Comte Arnauld Doria (1890-1977), Paris, a gift from the above in 1963 (with his collection label and number '979' on the reverse of the frame), then by descent; sale, Christie's, Paris, 27 March 2019, lot 168.
Acquired at the above sale.

Specialist note

Rapidly executed in black chalk, this sketch depicts Bernini’s equestrian monument of King Louis XIV at the gardens of the Palace of Versailles (R. Wittkower, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The Sculptor of the Roman Baroque, Oxford, 1981, no. 54, pls. 111, 113, figs. 110-112). Although the sculpture was begun in the mid-1660s, it was not sent to Paris until 1685. On seeing the finished work, Louis XIV was reportedly so displeased that he ordered it be moved to a secluded area of the gardens. The monument was later transformed by François Girardon into a depiction of the Roman hero Marcus Curtius.