DUPUIS, Nicolas-Gabriel
(b. ca. 1698, Paris, d. 1771, Paris)

Equestrian Statue of Louis XV at Bordeaux

1743
Engraving
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

The engraving shows the equestrian statue of Louis XV at Bordeaux. The huge statue, executed by Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne II, was set up in 1743, and pulled down at the Revolution. Its appearance is recorded by Dupuis' engraving as well as by several reductions which were executed in Lemoyne's studio. France's obsession with equestrian statues of Louis XV resulted in a series of works which seldom seem to have been of great artistic interest, or even variety, as far as can be judged in the virtually complete absence of the original statues in situ.