Lot Essay
The decision to create the place Louis XV, now called Place de la Concorde, was taken by King Louis XV in 1750. The plan to build a square sprang from the desire expressed by the Echevins de la Ville de Paris to erect an equestrian statue of the King. The commission was given to Bouchardon and the monumental bronze statue was be placed on the King's property between the Tuileries and the Champs Elysées. In 1755 the King approved Jacques-Ange Gabriel's project to develop the square around Bouchardon's sculpture.
During the Revolution, on 11 August 1792, the statue was pulled down by the mob and the name of the square was changed to Place de la Révolution. Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were guillotined there the next year. Ironically in 1795, the name of the square was changed to Place de la Concorde.
In 1833 the Comte Rambuteau, préfet of the Seine, commissioned the architect Hittorff to alter the lay-out of the square and the obelisk of Louxor was erected three years later.
A terminus ante quem for the present drawing is given by a print after a picture by Demachy representing the erection of the statue of King Louis XV, which took place on 19 February 1763: one of the buildings on the right, designed by Gabriel was finished but the other was still under construction, (J.-M. Bruson in De la place Louis XV à la place de la Concorde, exhib. cat., Musée Carnavalet, Paris, 1982, no. 52, illustrated) and was not completed until 1770. The present work must therefore have been executed between 1770 and 1792.
An anonymous picture, painted circa 1780, in the Musée Carnavalet shows the Place Louis XV from the Tuileries as it is in the present drawing, with the two horses sculpted by Coysevox seen in the background of the present drawing, Bruson, op. cit., no. 79, illustrated. The four moats, one of which is visible in the foreground of the present drawing, were filled in 1854.
The only topographical change Lallemand introduced is the modification of the angle of the statue of Louis XV, so that it could be seen fully and not only from behind.
During the Revolution, on 11 August 1792, the statue was pulled down by the mob and the name of the square was changed to Place de la Révolution. Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were guillotined there the next year. Ironically in 1795, the name of the square was changed to Place de la Concorde.
In 1833 the Comte Rambuteau, préfet of the Seine, commissioned the architect Hittorff to alter the lay-out of the square and the obelisk of Louxor was erected three years later.
A terminus ante quem for the present drawing is given by a print after a picture by Demachy representing the erection of the statue of King Louis XV, which took place on 19 February 1763: one of the buildings on the right, designed by Gabriel was finished but the other was still under construction, (J.-M. Bruson in De la place Louis XV à la place de la Concorde, exhib. cat., Musée Carnavalet, Paris, 1982, no. 52, illustrated) and was not completed until 1770. The present work must therefore have been executed between 1770 and 1792.
An anonymous picture, painted circa 1780, in the Musée Carnavalet shows the Place Louis XV from the Tuileries as it is in the present drawing, with the two horses sculpted by Coysevox seen in the background of the present drawing, Bruson, op. cit., no. 79, illustrated. The four moats, one of which is visible in the foreground of the present drawing, were filled in 1854.
The only topographical change Lallemand introduced is the modification of the angle of the statue of Louis XV, so that it could be seen fully and not only from behind.