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Lot Essay
Emmanuel Frémiet (1824-1910)
This bronze is a reduction of the statue of Louis d'Orléans équestre commissioned by the French State for the courtyard of the château de Pierrefonds in 1869.
As the youngest son of King Charles V of France, Louis d'Orléans (1372-1407) received by royal prerogative the Duchy of Touraine and to strengthen his territory built a fortress at Pierrefonds.
Besieged in the 17th century and left as a romantic ruin for two centuries, the château de Pierrefonds was a cause célèbre of Napoleon III who pursued a program of restoration which was subsumed by the creation of an Imperial Residence which leaves the château today very much a 19th century imagining of a medieval castle. The restorations included the commissioning of Louis d'Orléans équestre, of which reductions were edited by the Barbedienne foundry in three sizes.
This bronze is a reduction of the statue of Louis d'Orléans équestre commissioned by the French State for the courtyard of the château de Pierrefonds in 1869.
As the youngest son of King Charles V of France, Louis d'Orléans (1372-1407) received by royal prerogative the Duchy of Touraine and to strengthen his territory built a fortress at Pierrefonds.
Besieged in the 17th century and left as a romantic ruin for two centuries, the château de Pierrefonds was a cause célèbre of Napoleon III who pursued a program of restoration which was subsumed by the creation of an Imperial Residence which leaves the château today very much a 19th century imagining of a medieval castle. The restorations included the commissioning of Louis d'Orléans équestre, of which reductions were edited by the Barbedienne foundry in three sizes.