Louis XIV of France at the Louvre, Paris

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In 1685, Louis XIV's war minister, the marquis de Louvois, adopted an idea from speculators to create a new square in Paris. Jules Hardouin-Mansart designed the square, which was centered around a bronze equestrian statue of Louis XIV by Girardon standing seven meters high, including the pedestal. This square would later become known as the Place Vendôme. By 1792, Girardon's sculpture had been destroyed. The signed reduced version in the Louvre is all that remains. The context for this commission was a monumental full-scale statue of Louis XIV proposed by the Duc de La Feuillade to please the king. The proposal included the creation of a square celebrating Louis' victories in the Dutch war, which ended with the Nijmegen peace treaty (1679). In 1685, the marquis de Louvois followed up on this initiative and convinced Louis XIV to create a "Place des Conquêtes" on the site of the Hôtel de Vendôme. Jules Hardouin-Mansart designed this square, surpassing its rival in magnificence with an equestrian statue commissioned from François Girardon. Girardon worked on the model from 1685 to 1687, depicting Louis XIV as a Roman emperor wearing a voluminous contemporary curly wig. The king sits astride his horse without saddle or stirrups, while the horse walks with its right foreleg raised. Girardon drew inspiration from the ancient statue of Marcus Aurelius at the Capitol in Rome but made his version much larger (seven meters high). Louis XIV wears the cloak of a Roman commander and has no royal emblem except for the fleur-de-lis on his saddlecloth. The king's straight back, directed gaze, and disdainful expression convey sovereign authority, while the horse tramples the sword and shield of a defeated enemy. The casting of the statue was a technical feat achieved by Balthazar Keller in December 1692. France did not possess mastery over large bronze equestrian statues like Italy since the Renaissance. The lost-wax cast required feeding metal into every recess of the complex mold, consuming eighty thousand pounds of bronze. The single cast was a success and universally admired. The statue stood on its pedestal until 1699, on the square that would eventually be named Louis-le-Grand. Considered a symbol of absolutism, it was pulled down in August 1792 during the Revolution. Several reduced versions of the work were created, some by Girardon himself. The Louvre statue is the only signed copy, perfectly chiseled and standing over a meter high.