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Lot Essay
This drawing is a design for the term sculpted in 1684-9 by Etienne Le Hongre (1628-1690) along with a term of Vertumnus for the park of Versailles, F. Souchal, French Sculptor of the 17th and 18th Century, Oxford, 1977, no. 76*.
The two terms are recorded in the document OI 22772 of the Archive Nationales as having been executed 'd'aprs la pense de Lebrun'. The sculptor introduced very few changes to his sculpture compared to Le Brun's original design. Le Hongre's own design, copied from the present drawing, is in the Kunstbibliothek, Berlin, F. Souchal, op. cit., p. 323, illustrated. The two sculptures, valued each at 3000 Livres, were not delivered before 1689.
Le Brun was in charge of all decoration projects for King Louis XIV and had to provide designs for sculptors for the King's park at Versailles. Jean Guiffrey and Pierre Marcel record in the Louvre seventy drawings related to sculptures (Inventaire gnral des Dessins du Muse du Louvre et du Muse de Versailles, Ecole franaise, Paris, 1913, VIII, nos. 5955-6025) one of which is a design for Le Hongre's statue of L'air.
The two terms are recorded in the document O
Le Brun was in charge of all decoration projects for King Louis XIV and had to provide designs for sculptors for the King's park at Versailles. Jean Guiffrey and Pierre Marcel record in the Louvre seventy drawings related to sculptures (Inventaire gnral des Dessins du Muse du Louvre et du Muse de Versailles, Ecole franaise, Paris, 1913, VIII, nos. 5955-6025) one of which is a design for Le Hongre's statue of L'air.