BERNINI, Gian Lorenzo
(b. 1598, Napoli, d. 1680, Roma)

Equestrian Statue of King Louis XIV

c. 1670
Marble
Château, Versailles

Bernini made a terracotta model of the statue, though the sculpture was executed by his pupils, since he was by then over seventy-three years old. Its Baroque qualities were not appreciated by the king, he relegated it to the bottom of the Versailles gardens where, soon afterwards, Girardon transformed the figure into Marcus Curtius.