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拍品專文
The present portrait of Henri IV, king of France, on horseback is a technical tour de force and an impressive example of grand royal portraiture. Almost certainly the cast that remained in the studio of the king’s court sculptor, Barthélemy Prieur, at the time of his death in 1611, this bronze appears to be a collaboration between Prieur and his son-in-law, the sculptor and medallist Guillaume Dupré.
Henri IV (1553-1610) was a member of the Bourbon family, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty of French royalty. He became king of Navarre on the death of his mother in 1572 and ascended to the French throne in 1589 upon the death of his distant cousin Henri III. Raised in the Protestant tradition, he converted to Catholicism in order to quell religious tensions among his subjects. He remained tolerant of Protestantism throughout his reign, and the Edict of Nantes, granting extensive rights to the members of the protestant faith, was enacted in 1598. Despite being a well-liked monarch - he was given the moniker Le Bon Roi Henri (Good King Henry) - he was, however, stabbed to death by a Catholic zealot while travelling in his coach through the streets of Paris.
The arts under Henri IV experienced something of a renaissance and, among other projects intended to beautify the city of Paris were the creation of the Pont Neuf, the Place Royale (today Place des Vosges) and the Place Dauphine. Painting and sculpture also flourished under Henri IV and among the most important sculptors was Barthélemy Prieur (c. 1536-1611).
Little is known about Prieur’s early training but during the years 1564-1567 he was already acting as court sculptor to Duke Emanuel-Philibert of Savoy in Turin. By 1571 he had settled in Paris and among his important early commissions was the monument for the heart of the Constable Anne de Montmorency. Originally erected in the church of the Celestines, Paris (but today in the Louvre), Prieur was responsible for two of the three figures – Peace and Felicity – which stood around the base of a Solomonic column which supported a bronze urn containing the Constable’s heart. By 1591 Prieur had been appointed Court Sculptor by Henri IV and among other projects he executed sculptural decorations for the South wing of the Louvre and the Salle des Antiques.
Small scale bronzes were another of Prieur’s great contributions to French art in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Many of these depicted animals or scenes from everyday life (see, for example, the exquisite bronze of a woman plaiting her hair, sold Christie’s New York, 27 January 2023, lot 207) and for many years they were attributed to an anonymous sculptor known only as the Master of the Genre Figures. However, another important sub-category of Prieur’s bronzes were his depictions of royalty. Small-scale busts of Henri IV and his queen, Marie de’ Medici, are known in numerous examples. A more important and rare example of this royal portraiture is the signed pair of bronzes of Henri IV and his queen depicted in the mythological guises of Jupiter and Juno (sold Christie’s Monaco, 7 December 1985, now Louvre, inv. nos. OA 11054 and OA 11055).
Like the Louvre bronzes mentioned above, the present equestrian portrait appears to be a unique cast. As such, it must be the bronze referred to in the inventaire après décès of Prieur’s possessions dated 28 October 1611 (see Lamy, op. cit.): ‘Item dans ledict cabinet estant a costé de ladicte second chambre de ladicte maison a esté trouvéè ce sui ensuict: Premièrement une figure à cheval du defunct Roy dernier deceddé de deux pieds de hault garny de son pied dextral’ (‘Item in the said cabinet being next to the said second room of the said house the following was found: Firstly, an equestrian figure of the recently deceased king two feet high along with its pedestal’). It was considered to be the most valuable item among Prieur’s possessions, valued at 40 livres.
For the art historical antecedents of this equestrian bronze, one must look to a long line of equestrian portraits beginning in antiquity with the famous bronze of Marcus Aurelius in Rome. More recently, portraits created by the Florentine sculptor Giambologna (1529-1608), including his equestrian bronze of Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany (Piazza della Signoria, Florence), erected in 1594, provided important prototypes. An equestrian bronze of Henri IV by Giambologna (and finished by his assistant Pietro Tacca) was installed on the Pont Neuf in 1614 - after Prieur’s death – but models may have been available and provided inspiration.
This portrait shares many similarities with Prieur’s portrait of Henri IV as Jupiter but there is a subtle difference between that bronze and the present cast. Bronzes considered to be autograph Prieur casts including the Jupiter have a slightly softer and waxier quality than the lot offered here. The present bronze is a meticulous cast, with every detail of the hair, beard, armour and harnessing executed with enormous attention to detail and precision. It is for this reason that it has been suggested that the present bronze was a collaboration between Prieur and his son-in-law, Guillaume Dupré .
Guillaume Dupré (c. 1574-1642) was, like Prieur, a Huguenot, and he was perhaps the most important medallist of his age (for a synopsis of his career and a wide number of examples of his work see Jones, op. cit.). Trained by Prieur, he was appointed Sculpteur Ordinaire du Roi in 1603 and succeeded Prieur as Court Sculptor in 1611. He married Prieur’s daughter in 1600. Prieur and Dupré are known to have worked together, and the family proximity would only have made such a connection more likely. The precision of the present cast of Henri IV on horseback is surely an indication of Dupré’s training as a medallist, someone accustomed to working on a small scale and with infinite attention to detail.
What is the possible history of the creation of such an important bronze? There are no documents which have come to light thus far which record the commissioning of such a piece. It has been suggested that it was Prieur’s French riposte to the imminent arrival of the Italian bronze of the king created by Giambologna and Tacca. It has also been suggested that the bronze was intended as a gift from the sculptor to his patron, but that it was never delivered due to the latter’s untimely death. It therefore remained in the sculptor’s studio until his own death a year later.
Regardless of the circumstances of its creation, the present equestrian portrait of one of France’s most celebrated monarchs remains a masterpiece of French art. With his proud stance, the modelling of his muscular horse, and the details of the horse’s braided tail, as well as the details of the monarch’s minutely observed armour, this bronze is a testament to the achievements of two of France’s most important sculptors under Henri IV.
Henri IV (1553-1610) was a member of the Bourbon family, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty of French royalty. He became king of Navarre on the death of his mother in 1572 and ascended to the French throne in 1589 upon the death of his distant cousin Henri III. Raised in the Protestant tradition, he converted to Catholicism in order to quell religious tensions among his subjects. He remained tolerant of Protestantism throughout his reign, and the Edict of Nantes, granting extensive rights to the members of the protestant faith, was enacted in 1598. Despite being a well-liked monarch - he was given the moniker Le Bon Roi Henri (Good King Henry) - he was, however, stabbed to death by a Catholic zealot while travelling in his coach through the streets of Paris.
The arts under Henri IV experienced something of a renaissance and, among other projects intended to beautify the city of Paris were the creation of the Pont Neuf, the Place Royale (today Place des Vosges) and the Place Dauphine. Painting and sculpture also flourished under Henri IV and among the most important sculptors was Barthélemy Prieur (c. 1536-1611).
Little is known about Prieur’s early training but during the years 1564-1567 he was already acting as court sculptor to Duke Emanuel-Philibert of Savoy in Turin. By 1571 he had settled in Paris and among his important early commissions was the monument for the heart of the Constable Anne de Montmorency. Originally erected in the church of the Celestines, Paris (but today in the Louvre), Prieur was responsible for two of the three figures – Peace and Felicity – which stood around the base of a Solomonic column which supported a bronze urn containing the Constable’s heart. By 1591 Prieur had been appointed Court Sculptor by Henri IV and among other projects he executed sculptural decorations for the South wing of the Louvre and the Salle des Antiques.
Small scale bronzes were another of Prieur’s great contributions to French art in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Many of these depicted animals or scenes from everyday life (see, for example, the exquisite bronze of a woman plaiting her hair, sold Christie’s New York, 27 January 2023, lot 207) and for many years they were attributed to an anonymous sculptor known only as the Master of the Genre Figures. However, another important sub-category of Prieur’s bronzes were his depictions of royalty. Small-scale busts of Henri IV and his queen, Marie de’ Medici, are known in numerous examples. A more important and rare example of this royal portraiture is the signed pair of bronzes of Henri IV and his queen depicted in the mythological guises of Jupiter and Juno (sold Christie’s Monaco, 7 December 1985, now Louvre, inv. nos. OA 11054 and OA 11055).
Like the Louvre bronzes mentioned above, the present equestrian portrait appears to be a unique cast. As such, it must be the bronze referred to in the inventaire après décès of Prieur’s possessions dated 28 October 1611 (see Lamy, op. cit.): ‘Item dans ledict cabinet estant a costé de ladicte second chambre de ladicte maison a esté trouvéè ce sui ensuict: Premièrement une figure à cheval du defunct Roy dernier deceddé de deux pieds de hault garny de son pied dextral’ (‘Item in the said cabinet being next to the said second room of the said house the following was found: Firstly, an equestrian figure of the recently deceased king two feet high along with its pedestal’). It was considered to be the most valuable item among Prieur’s possessions, valued at 40 livres.
For the art historical antecedents of this equestrian bronze, one must look to a long line of equestrian portraits beginning in antiquity with the famous bronze of Marcus Aurelius in Rome. More recently, portraits created by the Florentine sculptor Giambologna (1529-1608), including his equestrian bronze of Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany (Piazza della Signoria, Florence), erected in 1594, provided important prototypes. An equestrian bronze of Henri IV by Giambologna (and finished by his assistant Pietro Tacca) was installed on the Pont Neuf in 1614 - after Prieur’s death – but models may have been available and provided inspiration.
This portrait shares many similarities with Prieur’s portrait of Henri IV as Jupiter but there is a subtle difference between that bronze and the present cast. Bronzes considered to be autograph Prieur casts including the Jupiter have a slightly softer and waxier quality than the lot offered here. The present bronze is a meticulous cast, with every detail of the hair, beard, armour and harnessing executed with enormous attention to detail and precision. It is for this reason that it has been suggested that the present bronze was a collaboration between Prieur and his son-in-law, Guillaume Dupré .
Guillaume Dupré (c. 1574-1642) was, like Prieur, a Huguenot, and he was perhaps the most important medallist of his age (for a synopsis of his career and a wide number of examples of his work see Jones, op. cit.). Trained by Prieur, he was appointed Sculpteur Ordinaire du Roi in 1603 and succeeded Prieur as Court Sculptor in 1611. He married Prieur’s daughter in 1600. Prieur and Dupré are known to have worked together, and the family proximity would only have made such a connection more likely. The precision of the present cast of Henri IV on horseback is surely an indication of Dupré’s training as a medallist, someone accustomed to working on a small scale and with infinite attention to detail.
What is the possible history of the creation of such an important bronze? There are no documents which have come to light thus far which record the commissioning of such a piece. It has been suggested that it was Prieur’s French riposte to the imminent arrival of the Italian bronze of the king created by Giambologna and Tacca. It has also been suggested that the bronze was intended as a gift from the sculptor to his patron, but that it was never delivered due to the latter’s untimely death. It therefore remained in the sculptor’s studio until his own death a year later.
Regardless of the circumstances of its creation, the present equestrian portrait of one of France’s most celebrated monarchs remains a masterpiece of French art. With his proud stance, the modelling of his muscular horse, and the details of the horse’s braided tail, as well as the details of the monarch’s minutely observed armour, this bronze is a testament to the achievements of two of France’s most important sculptors under Henri IV.